Mass Effect 4: The Road Home
by Daedalus30185
Summary: A story that kicks off right after the events of ME3. Tali and Shepard struggle with the loss of each other as uncertainty is the only thing this new galaxy provides them. Rating is due mostly to language.
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1:**_

_**Hurt**_

Miranda had been searching through the rubble that had become of the Citadel with no luck. No Shepard. Just piles of dead and dismembered bodies. "Have you found him yet?" She and her SAR team had been looking for over an hour. Between the dark and the bodies though, it was difficult to see much.

"You know, if I found him, I'm pretty fucking sure I'd have said something you walking titjob." Of course she'd had to have been paired with Jack.

The two had met thanks to Shepard nearly a year earlier on the Normandy SR-2 when he recruited the former convict. The two had barely gotten along. At one point they nearly smashed the window in Miranda's quarters as a biotic brawl was about to erupt. Luckily for the both of them, Shepard had intervened.

The last few weeks they had become rather... intimate. Though it was pretty much a love-hate relationship where they would randomly bounce between wanting to use the furniture to kill each other and moving the furniture around with their pants around their ankles, legs wrapped around their waists. Right now they were in a "kill each other" state.

This was also a bit of Shepard's doing. He made a mildly snide comment during a party about how the reason the two of them were at each others throats was due to sexual tension. Imagine his surprise that he was right.

"Urgh. I _really_ don't need to hear this." The raspy voice came from Wrex, another former squad member that joined up with Shepard to fight the Reapers a year ago. He had since been working to kill his former employers, an organization known as Cerberus. The same group that Miranda used to work for.

"Hey, I think I found him!" Jack called out.

The Commander was buried under more than a ton and a half of metal. Jack and Miranda used their biotics to throw the debris off of him, most of it falling over the walkway. "Shepard? Shepard are you in there?"

The dark blond haired man didn't respond. "Shepard! I swear if you're dead I'm going to kill you."

Miranda ran a bio-scan of him with her omni-tool. "Shit. He's barely alive. Wrex go get a doctor! Now!" The massive Krogan ran back to the makeshift landing bay.

The little armor the commander had left was badly burned and melted with his skin. The little bit of him that they could see under the armor was coated in blood. Lots of it and all his own. He probably would have been luckier if he had died, but something in him refused to let him. He had always had been described as "the most stubborn son of a bitch in human history". Miranda knew his file from the two years she spent re-building him almost from scratch, plus the so called "suicide mission" to the galactic core where he brought back his entire crew alive.

"You'll be alright Shepard. Wrex is getting a doctor. Just hang in there for a bit longer."

* * *

Tali sighed heavily, looking at her boyfriend's name. His name on a metal plate to be added to the memorial wall on Deck Three of the Normandy just off the elevator. So many of her friends names had been added in recent months. This was wrong. Everything about it was just wrong. No. He's not dead. He can't be. She dropped the plate and began crying.

"Hey, hey. It's okay." Garrus stepped forward from the group that had put the names of their former crew on the wall. He hugged her for comfort. "We'll get back. We'll find him. I promise."

"He left me." She said crying.

Samantha stepped forward and hugged her along with Garrus, the rest of the team following suite.

"I... I'll be in... in our room." She stammered out. The group made way for her as she went to the elevator but Ashley stayed with her.

"I know what you're going through." Her own eyes watering as she remembered what it felt like when she thought Shepard had died. The two had been intimate on the original Normandy, the SR-1. It took her months to put herself back together. The least she could do is help the woman she regarded as her forth sister.

"Come here." She said re-embracing the trembling quarian. "I'll stay with you as long as you need."

Ash practically carried Tali into Shepard's quarters on Deck One, setting her down on the couch he had. "Don't worry, we'll find him when we get back."

"What if... what if he... he didn't..." Tali couldn't finish before breaking down again.

All Ashley could do was hug her tighter. "You know he's the toughest, most stubborn bastard in all of human history right? I mean he came back from the dead, pulled off _two_ suicide missions and survived them. If anyone, and I do mean _anyone_ could have made it back it's him. Hell he's probably searching through the rubble looking for something to use as a wedding ring."

Ash stayed with the crying woman all night, falling asleep still holding her. She refused to leave her side. It was the least she could do for her.

* * *

**ABLE/NOVEMBER:**

_So this is another story that I'll be writing in parallel with _Rubble &amp; Ruin_. It's not a continuation but rather a separate entity entirely. I will warn you, this will get darker in later chapters but for now it'll be fluffy. I'll give you a warning before we join the dark side. _(begins breathing in Vader's voice)


	2. Chapter 2

_I wasn't dreaming when they told me you were gone,  
I was wide awake and feeling that they had to be wrong.  
How could you leave me when you swore that you would stay?  
Now I'm trapped inside a nightmare every single f'ing day _

* * *

Chapter 2:

Bad Dreams

ONE WEEK POST-ACTIVATION:

The crew had been on a rotating schedule of keeping an eye on Tali. Garrus, Doctor Chakwas, Joker and Ashley had taken the bulk of the shifts; Ash in particular as she knew what Tali was going through, more so at least than the others did. She didn't have much trouble while she was working on repairs. It let her keep her mind focused, distracted from the fact that the massive bed was far too empty for her. It was cold without Mark there.

She had been working on the radiation shielding for the last five hours. Before that it was the sublight engines, and the FTL systems before that. Anything she could do to keep her mind busy. But it wasn't enough. Most of it felt like day-to-day maintenance work.

She had been daydreaming about Shepard and what he said before she was forced to leave him behind.

"_Come on!" Shepard helped carry her to the Normandy that was making an emergency landing to get some of the wounded that were making a charge on the Citadel beam, Garrus was slightly ahead of them. Her suit had been badly torn and she was bleeding through it._

_A team of Alliance Marines ran down the ramp clearing several of the Reaper ground troops that were attacking the assault force from both sides._

"_Here, take her." He said to Garrus when they reached the SR-2's ramp. The turian helped her up as the Normandy couldn't land as her previous model could._

"_Shepard..."_

"_You've got to get out of here Tali."_

"_I can't stay behind."_

"_Don't argue me Tali." He pleaded._

"_Don't leave me behind." Her voice was breaking, worried that she would be left behind as someone else she cared about died. Her father during her trial; the only member of her team that survived Haestrom, Kal'Reegar, died a few weeks back on Palaven. Now Mark was pushing her away. Right at the end of the road, so close to the finish line._

"_I need you to make it out of here alive Tali." He walked up to her. "Go back to Rannoch. Build yourself a home." The fear about what about to happen was as thick in his voice as it was in hers. He brought his hand up holding her head as if to say "I'm sorry about all this"._

"_I have a home." Tears were rolling down her eyes behind her purple-pink mask. He started to back away, to return with the others and charge the beam with the others in the assault force. "Come back to me."_

_He looked back, seeing the Reaper begin to focus on the frigate. "Go. GO!" He yelled._

"_No! No Shepard! Don't!" She struggled against Garrus to try and break free but it was a loosing fight. The ramp closed before she could break free of his grip._

"_Come on Tali you're in no shape to go after him! I need to get you to Chakwas!"_

"_We can't leave him! Let me go! Dammit let me go you bastard!" Tears were flowing down her face, pooling near the bottom of her mask. "Please." She collapsed to the ground. "We can't leave him. Not again..."_

_Garrus picked her up, carrying her to the elevator. She had become oddly quiet. "Tali?__Tali are you okay?"_

"Tali?" Someone shook her shoulder bringing her back to the present.

"Huh? What?" She asked, her voice as broken as the day they left Earth.

"I said are you okay? You finished the radiation shielding an hour ago." Adams said.

"Oh. Thank you." She still wasn't paying much attention. "So what's next on the list?"

"Why don't you go get something to eat? You've been working yourself ragged. Donnelly and I can take care of the breaches in the hull."

"No. I-I don't mind. Really."

"You know I could use a bite to eat myself. Come on, It's nearly dinnertime anyway." Daniels said. "Besides, I hate to eat alone."

"It's fine. I just need something to take my mind off... I just need something to keep me busy."

"Come on." Daniels said. She gently took Tali's hand leading her back to the elevator.

Tali's mind started wandering back to the cliff face where she and Shepard, or rather Shepard had killed the Reaper on Rannoch giving the quarians back her homeworld _and_ secured peace with the geth.

* * *

"_Ahh. That's it." Mark sighed as he hammered the last nail into the cottage he had built for him and Tali._

"_I swear I was going actually smash every finger again before it was done." While he was a whiz with a circuit board, wood and nails were never his strong suite._

"_It's just like you described it." Tali said, standing beside him. His new wife. First thing he did was build her the home on Rannoch she had been dreaming about for years. He put in every detail that she had requested and added a few of his own._

"_So, shall we start moving our stuff in? Kasumi apparently got furnishing for every room down to rugs for the floor and paintings for the walls." Kasumi and Tali had been close while they served together during their shared time on the SR-2 and continued to remain so after they parted when the crew finished their mission against the Collectors. "Probably best we don't ask how she got it. Even the coffee maker." He added._

"_Well there's a problem." What was strange, is there wasn't a hint of sadness in her voice._

"_What are you talking about? I thought I got everything right."_

"_You did." She walked to the front door of the cottage. "But we can't do this. Not anymore."_

"_What are you talking about?" He chuckled. She had always been bad at jokes. "We just got married."_

"_No. You just think we did."_

"_Okay, this isn't funny. What the hell are you talking about?" He approached her._

"_No. Don't." She stretched her arm out keeping him from coming closer. "You already know why. It's already happened, you just don't remember."_

"_Remember what? We flipped the switch, killed the Reapers, got married end of story."_

"_The first part was right. I'm sorry Markus."_

_She closed the door behind her as she went inside, locking it behind her._

"_Tali?" Mark knocked on the door after trying to open it._

"_Tali open up! This isn't funny anymore!" He pounded on the door to no avail._

"_Open the door dammit!"_

_The house then began to sink perfectly into the ground not taking Shepard or the potted plants that sat next to the house with it._

"_Tali get out! Get out now!" He grabbed one of the pots and slammed it against the sinking window but the pot fell to dust when he grabbed it._

"_No dammit! Tali get OUT!" He was getting desperate but nothing came to mind on what to do._

_The roof on the second floor began to fall beneath the ground layer. All Shepard could do was sit there._

"Tali!" He snapped awake in a cot, his hands shot to his eyes to cover them. That was one of the worst dreams he had in months.

Something else was... wrong. His left arm was out of position and there was something amiss about how his hand was sitting on his face.

He pulled his hands back revealing a bandaged nub where his left hand was. _Wha-What the HELL is this?_

He leaned past the edge of the cot and puked up everything that he had eaten. Which wasn't a lot since he had been in IVs for a week. It wasn't anything in fact. All he had was several dry heaves and a bit of stomach acid.

And it spilled right onto a sleeping Wrex's lap. That is, was sleeping. "Damn it Shepard! Just got 'em cleaned."

He looked to Shepard clutching his arm. "Guess you found out huh?"

"What... happened?" He choked out.

"Docs said something 'bout your omni-tool fusing to the nerves in your hands. They had to cut it off. Sorry."

He was still coming out of the coma he had been in since the Crucible was activated. "Did we... did we win?"

"Err kinda. You killed the Reapers but the blast wave took out your relay. Far as everyone can figure same happened elsewhere. We won friend. Ha-ha!" His booming voice gave him a slight grin.

"So how bad is the damage?" He rasped out, still tasting vomit.

"The explosions on the Citadel sent you flying. Even by Krogan standards you're lucky to be alive."

"Well that wouldn't be the first time would it?" He lied back down with a slight grin on his face.

"Though they did need to do some more cutting."

Shepard's eyes darted back to the red, and now with a splash of green Krogan. "What are you talking about?"

"They needed to take most of a leg when they got you. At least now we'll have a fair fight when we spar. Heh-heh-heh."

"Funny." He dismissed it as a joke. Rather sick one at that. Wrex had always needed work on his sense of humor.

"Sorry buddy, but it's gone. Take a look for yourself."

Shepard looked under the blanket. It was like Wrex said. Less than half of his right leg was there.

"What did they do?!"

"Like I said Shepard, most of it had already been smashed up in the explosion."

His head fell back on the pillow lying at the head of the cot sighing heavily. Something struck him as strange, missing limbs aside.

"Where's Tali?"

Wrex responded with silence. Not the "I'm gathering my thoughts" silence, but rather "I was really hoping I wouldn't have to tell you this" silence. Though there wasn't much difference between them.

"Wrex, where are they?" Markus repeated.

"They don't know."

"What do you mean "they don't know"? Did they make the rendezvous?"

"The relays were destroyed Shepard. Earth is dark as far as the rest of the galaxy is concerned. They say it'll be at least a month before a patch is up. Sorry I wish I had better news."

"Get out of here Wrex." Markus said in a dry tone. "Get out of here right now."

"I'll be outside if you need me."

The loyal tank of a Krogan walked out, delicately by Krogan standards and stood near the entrance to the medical tent; a large dark shadow outlined where he stood.

Shepard then put his pillow on his face and tried smothering himself with it. Half was to get some of the rage out, the other half to put himself into a dangerous enough state to wake up if it was a dream. In the end, he only wore himself out drifting off into another nightmare.

* * *

**ABLE/NOVEMBER;**

_Sorry for the delay in posting. Had to go back and re-write the half with Shepard._

_As posted with my other story, I'm back in class and re-focusing my efforts there along with social prospects. This means I'm not going to update all that frequently. Once, maaaybe twice a month will be the average._


	3. Chapter 3

**ABLE/NOVEMBER:**_ There's been some confusion on this matter so allow me to clarify, the Shepard in this story's name is "Markus". The one in my other story is "John". It helps keep them straight when I'm spooling up the creative gray matter in my coat hanger (that's self-depricating speak for "brain")._

* * *

_All around me are familiar faces  
Worn out places, worn out faces  
Bright and early for their daily races  
Going nowhere, going nowhere_

Chapter 3:

Not a "People Person" Anymore

ONE MONTH POST-ACTIVATION:

The door to Shepard's cabin on the Normandy chimed.

"Open." Tali said, her voice faint.

As it slid open Javik entered, the door closing behind him.

"The asa- Doctor T'Soni suggested I apologize for acting rudely during the ceremony." He said with a huff.

"Fine. Just go." She walked over to his desk and sat down mindlessly fiddling with a model of the SR-1.

"This is quite pathetic you know."

She stared him down with the darkest, angriest look imaginable. Even behind her mask, a senile Elcor could see the rage.

"Get. Out." She spat to him. It was taking everything she had to keep from beating him back to his own cynical cycle.

"Your 'mate'." He scoffed at the later part. "Has done what trillions have failed to do. Millions upon millions of years and he, a single person, drove the Reapers out of this universe in only a few years."

"I said 'Get out'. So leave."

"And yet you sit here crying. I remember when quarians had spirit in them. It appears everyone in this cycle has become too weak-willed to do anything on their own."

"GET OUT!" She was now screaming at him.

"Not until you will listen to reason. Your relationship was an illusion. A sham. The two of you were only with each other because of a lack of options."

Tali leapt up landing a right hook into his jaw at the same time Garrus came into the room to check on her.

"What happened?" He asked, startled seeing the Prothean's jaw bleeding and Tali collapsed back in the chair crying her eyes out yet again.

"I simply told her the truth. She refused to hear it."

"And what truth was that?" Garrus had a good feeling as to why his lip was bloodied now.

"That even if he survived, she is better off without him."

Garrus followed suite with Tali's previous reaction; slamming his own fist into Javik's jaw, this time on the left side. He then grabbed the cynical alien by the collar and shoved him out of the cabin.

"You. Stay. Away from her." He growled. His best friend was in all honesty, likely dead, and here someone was rubbing salt in the wounds of Tali's loss. If Javik hadn't been a colleague he had fought with several dozen times (no matter how little they got along) he would have ripped his throat out and let him drown in a pool of his own blood.

He then slammed his hand into the door control closing it. "EDI, I want you to keep Javik off this floor." He said to the damaged AI that now barely ran the ship.

"Hey, come here." He said to Tali, helping her up.

He took her to the couch where they sat down. "Almost all of the systems have been repaired. We should be back to Earth in a few days. He'll probably be waiting for you when we land. We'll find him."

"But... wha-what if..." She didn't need to finish her sentence.

"Then you can kick my ass all the way back to the First Contact War if it'll make you feel better." His mandibles were spaced slightly farther apart in his vain attempt of a smile. "This wouldn't be the first time he'd come back from the dead. He's too stubborn."

* * *

"Why?" Markus barked at Miranda.

"Why the hell do I have to go through physical therapy?"

"I think we went over this yesterday Shepard."

"Then you shouldn't have a problem convincing me to do it." He wasn't trying to get out of it cause he hated it, he just wanted to curl up and let the world pass him by.

"That'd be right, but you haven't gotten out of bed for the last three days."

"Well then I'd hate to ruin the streak." He pulled his blanket tight with his temporary prosthetic hand.

"Besides, these damn things don't work right."

"They seemed to be working just fine at Ceres café." The incident she was referring to happened five days earlier.

* * *

**Ceres café, five days ago**

After two days of constant nagging from his mother he had finally gone somewhere other than the mess tent and the doctor's 'office'. He was sitting alone, having a cup of tea. He couldn't remember the brand, or even what kind of tea it was, not that it mattered.

"Hey, you're him aren't you?" One of the local patrons asked Mark. "You're that Commander Shepard aren't you?"

"Yeah. Yeah I'm Shepard." He had gotten used to the gawking, though in the last few weeks they had significantly cut back; mostly because they had been busy trying to re-build London. And the rest of Earth.

Most of the debris from the various buildings had been piled up and were being sorted through on whether or not to immediately use it for reconstruction, or to mix it with other materials for later use.

"I don't mean to intrude, but it's rather crowded. It wouldn't be a bother if I joined would it?"

"Sure I guess." He motioned with the prosthetic hand the Geth had installed in place of the left hand he had lost. At present it was simply a bone-like graft though they promised a better, more full hand once they had access to more supplies, that what was on Earth needed to be rationed as far as it could until supply ships started coming in.

But he didn't want it to be replaced with a better one. He didn't even want what he had. The same went for his leg.

"My name is Ryan. So, what's it like being the biggest hero in all of history?" He asked. There was a distinctive southern American drawl in his voice.

Markus absently shrugged in response to his question. "Don't much care."

"Are you kidding me? Why? What could be bringing you down?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Why not? Come on! I'm a good shoulder to lean on, a fellow to spill your deepest troubles."

"I said forget it. That's my polite way of saying 'back the hell off. Now'. Are we clear?"

"Ah, so a girlfriend I take it. Would have been one of your crew or some reporter would have been able to dig and get a name."

Shepard was eying him with a 'if you keep this up I will rip your foot off and jam it in your mouth' look.

"Was it that brunette Marine? Man was she was hot!"

"No, no it wasn't Ash." He conceded to himself that some form of social contact might be good for him.

"Okay, that news chick who was reporting from the Normandy then?"

"Wrong again. Look, just drop it okay."

"Fine, fine, fine. I don't mind which way ya are. Just, one last question?"

"As long as you agree to leave me alone afterwards." Shepard was stirring his tea idly by gently swirling the cup in a slow circle.

"What did you feel when you killed our gods?" That caught his full attention; the cup stopped moving, his head didn't change angle but the eyes, those shot up to meet Ryan's in full alert mode. He was on the lookout for the slightest hint of aggression.

The rest of the café went deadly silent, unsure whether to go on as they were or to get out quickly.

"What did you just say?"

"I said," Ryan's hand quietly slipped into his jacket.

"How did it feel when you ruined our chance for SALVATION!" He brought the dagger he had concealed up and lunged for Shepard's head.

Instinctively kicking the table up between himself and his attacker, Shepard rolled out of his chair and the patrons fled out the door, the still destroyed wall, any which way they could in fear that they would be the next target.

Ryan then started ranting. "WE WERE ON THE VERGE OF GREATNESS! AND YOU RUINED OUR SALVATION!" He took another swing at Shepard, this one going to slash his chest.

Moving his cybernetic hand in the way, he flicked his fingers as the blade went between the ascetic bone-like superstructure that was all that it currently consisted of.

The blade shattered between the metal fingers, shards raining down on the floor.

Bringing his leg up, Markus slammed the indoctrinated man with his organic leg landing a blow to the kidneys. Continuing the momentum, he planted his foot down and brought the cybernetic leg around forming a roundhouse kick that nearly smashed Ryan's skull in. After the combo blow he didn't get back up.

Still heaving from the sudden assault, Shepard knelt down to check the man's vitals. He was dead. The authorities arrived shortly there after and filed a report on what happened: another indoctrinated agent had attacked.

* * *

**Present day, Shepard's medical tent**  


"Hey Shepard, my girl ain't bothring ya is she?" Jack asked walking into the tent.

"No I- wait, what did you just say? Did you just?" He didn't need to finish the sentence.

"You didn't tell him?"

"I've been too busy trying to get him to actually follow through with his therapy!" Most of that was directed towards Shepard as a cheap shot at his stubbornness.

"Wait, hold up, I'm confused. Jack, did you just say that Miranda is... your 'girl'? You two aren't—are you?"

"Hell yeah we are Stumpy." Markus flipped her off with his cybernetic hand. "Eh... sorry?"

"Look, she's been worried about you and she brings it home with her. Just ruins the sex. I mean, the last time I got any kind of a decent lay was right when we started—" Shepard cut her off there.

"I think I'll go down to the PT tent for a few." He said climbing out of bed. "Wrex will make sure I don't go too hard."

When both Wrex and Shepard were out of earshot Jack turned back to Miranda and slung her arm around her waist. "Told ya I could get him out of bed. Now, let's see if we can't do the opposite with you."

* * *

**ABLE/NOVEMBER:**_Despite the way this was written, Garrus doesn't, I say again DOES NOT have any romantic feelings for Tali. He sees her and Shepard like family and would do anything to keep them safe, or at least happy._

_I decided not to include Jack and Miranda going at it in Shepard's bunk (Jack really doesn't have any shame does she?) because this is a Shepard/Tali story. I'm saving all the... creative juices _;) _ for them._


	4. Chapter 4

_Cause I am lost without you  
I cannot live at all  
My whole world surrounds you  
I stumble then I crawl_

Chapter 4

Problems

March 18th, 2187 CE

18 WEEKS POST ACTIVATION

Hannah Shepard sighed heavily ran a hand through her silver hair as she looked over the latest reports on the Charon Relay. They were almost ready to start replacing the eezo and send a test signal.

The admiral was unbelievably tired. She made a deal with herself: twenty minutes of work then she'd get some sleep. And then she'd spend some real time with her son in the morning.

A knock on the door made her head jump back up. _I fell asleep?_

"Come in." The door to her office opened showing a Geth in the doorway.

"Yes Randal?" Its name wasn't really 'Randal' but she like how it sounded on him.

"I'm here to inform you I received a message from the other Geth across the galaxy." He handed her a data pad and left.

She read over it and her heart dropped, the pad slipping out of her hand. The Normandy never made the rendezvous with its escape group and hasn't been heard from since. The commanders in the fleet had already started sending out scout frigates to look to check if they had veered off course with a damaged comm system but no luck as of yet. But there was some news that splattered a grin over her face and one that would likely do the same with her son. She decided to open with that.

_I need to go see him. Now._ She stumbled to the door. _Make that first thing... in the morning._ In all likely hood she'd pass out from exhaustion before the shuttle got halfway through the atmosphere.

* * *

"Shut it down! EDI shut it down now!" Joker yelled.

"I am unable to do so. Electro magnetic containment fields around the core are beginning to destabilize." The AI replied.

_"EDI this is James. I'm in the engine room but we got an O2 leak. Adams and Donnely had to get out. I'll need you to talk me through this."_

EDI started walking him through the release system. Lucky she knew how to translate the complex procedure to grunt-speak.

The cables in the control console where Tali normally worked kept zapping him as he buried his massive arms into it. "Dios! Will you just work right?!"

His hand finally grabbed the necessary cable, plugging it back into the correct port. "Done!" He exclaimed standing back up in pride. When it came to technology, if it was more complex than a firearm or armor he was lost.

Looking back at the console he saw it lighting up red across every panel. "Oh shit!" He tried moving for the door but was too slow; the entire console blew up in his face sending searing hot pieces of glass in every direction.

* * *

This was the forth time they had tried to leave the system but the engines kept pushing into some form of overload, forcing an emergency discharge after only a few minutes. They had barely landed the ship the first time. And now the emergency release had failed. If Joker didn't know better he'd swear it was sabotage.

"James, do you read? James! Come in!"

"I registered an explosion near Vega's location just before we lost contact. I already informed Doctor Chakwas."

_"Joker? It's Ash. I heard the explosion and pulled him out. He's not looking too good. Get Chakwas down here. NOW!"_

Joker sighed heavily. They had all come too far to loose a friend to an accident.

"So have you figured out what the problem is?"

"Unfortunately, I believe so."

"How can knowing what's wrong be a bad thing?"

"It appears more of my base code had been damaged than we initially thought. I would not recommend we attempt another launch until the root issue."

"Uuunn you mean we gotta go back through your coding a_gain_?"

"I believe I just said that."

* * *

Tali had been by all outside observations been getting better. She stopped crying. In public that is.

In reality she had been getting worse day by day. The night before she had found the pistol he had hidden in the drawer on his side of the bed. She sat in bed all night with the gun in her lap just looking at it, wondering why he kept it there.

_Was it... did he... want to... die? I thought... I thought we were happy. I thought he was happy._ Her thoughts started drifting farther and farther.

_I should. I should join him. _She kept repeating the thought in her head over and over. It took her an hour before she could even pick it up. _No, wait. I should leave a message._ She set the M-6 on the pillow and moved to his desk looking for a pad. She wrote a message on one of Shepard's spare pads. Something to help lessen the blow.

_[__I can't ever forgive Jeff. Mark died _twice _because of him. He had to go and save him the first time and it cost him two years, now it's permanent. First he refused to leave, then he abandons him. That's why I haven't said a word to him since... Just find a way to be a little more tactful when you tell him._

_Garrus, Ashley, I know it'll probably be one of you who finds me. Promise me you won't blame yourselves. I wanted to do this for a long time but couldn't work up the courage. I want to thank you both for being such good friends to me and for keeping an eye on him all this time._

_EDI, I'm sorry I gave you (and Legion for that matter) such a hard time. I don't- I don't know what else to say._

_Kenneth, Gabby would you two just admit you love each other and start having kids? You two aren't fooling anybody but yourselves._

_I can't keep living here. It's too much. I'm sorry. Thank you for trying._

_-Tali'Zorah]_

She found some adhesives in the desk drawer to hold it up. She only hoped that it would hold long enough.

Walking back to the bed, she put the pistol to her head under her chin. Best chance to do it right.

So much of her wanted to do this, to be with him again. She could feel the muzzle pushing against the underside of her jaw, the feel of the cold metal transferring through the suit. Just one little squeeze and she would be with him again.

She then changed her mind slightly but only slightly. She was worried that a round through the underside of her jaw might not be completely accurate so she changed its position. _I'm coming Mark._

She moved the gun so the muzzle was pointed in towards the back of her head from her mouth and pulled the trigger.

* * *

_Shepard could feel the small bones and soft cartilage as his fist made contact with her face.  
_

_This was disgusting! He was out of control; he was beating Tali senseless! This made no sense to him. He loved her, more than that. She was everything to him. Be it death or life he'd give everything to keep her safe and happy. He could feel the rage with every blow but it wasn't his.  
_

_"Shepard stop!" she screamed at him. She had insisted on him being rougher with her and _this_ is where he took it!? When he removed her mask he started wailing on her.  
_

_The knocking on their cabin door made him stop. He covered her mouth, whispering in her ear. "Not a word Sweetness."  
_

_"Hey Shepard!" Garrus called through the door. "Much as I hate to interrupt your and Tali's uh... private time we've gotta-"  
_

_"GARRUS HELP!" She screamed._

_"I told you to_ quiet_." He said striking the edge of her eye socket._

_"Tali? Tali are you okay? Shepard, what's going on?" Garrus started knocking on the door, pounding to be more precise._

_"It's fine Vakarian. I'll be there in a minute."_

_"GARRUS GET ME OUT!"  
_

_"I_ _said _shut up!"_ Shepard said slapping her with a backhand sending her rolling off the bed._

_Garrus pried the door open and tackled Shepard. "What the hell are you doing Shepard?!"_

_"Get off of me Garrus." Shepard said, his voice sounding almost as if he were a rabid human._

_"Shepard what the fuck are you _doing_?!" He repeated._

_"What are you talking about Garrus? She brought this on herself." He slammed his knee into Garrus flipping him over Shepard. Scrambling for his drawer he pulled the M-6 and emptied half a clip at his old friend._

_His body slumped onto the floor as his blood dripped down from the wall just below the fish tank as it pooled around him on the floor.  
_

_"Now then, where were we?" He said focusing back on Tali who was cowering in a corner, face covered in blood, bruises already starting to form._

_"Please, Mark... don't." She whimpered._

_"Oh don't worry. I think I've had quite enough of that." He yanked her up and threw her forcibly back onto the bed._

_"I'm bored now." He said and shot her in the gut. "I think counting the seconds will keep me entertained."_

_He then waited. One sixty two, 163, 164. It took nearly three minutes for Tali to bleed out, coughing up blood and crying in agonizing pain._

"NO TALI!" Shepard shot up out of his bed sweating profusely. Something was wrong, deep inside of him. Like a piece of him at been ripped out. Not only at what he was doing, but the gnawing feeling that it was something he had done. It was only a dream (a sick one albeit), but he felt like throwing himself against a wall a couple of thousand times for what he had done.

The dream, or rather nightmare he had been having was one of the worst to date. It was one of the few times he had been relieved that the dreams had woken him up.

"Shepard?" Wrex ducked into the tent. He looked around for an intruder instinctively but found no one.

"Another one?" He asked, mildly disappointed there wasn't someone to shoot.

"Wrex I need to record a message."

"Shepard the relays are still broken. Won't go much farther than the next system over."

"Just get it now Wrex!"

When Wrex returned with a data pad to record on he told him to make sure no one disturbed him for the next few minutes.

"This is Commander Shepard and this message is for anyone with knowledge about the SSV Normandy SR-2." He recorded. "Anyone with information or better yet the ability to communicate with them please contact me immediately. I'd also ask you to send this along to the crew. There are several encoded personal messages. They'll be able to decrypt them."

He added a quick message to Joker and Garrus. It took him several attempts to think of something to say to Tali. After a few minutes he settled with "I'm alive and I love you. Please, please, PLEASE be okay." He was too tired and distracted to think of anything else.

* * *

**ABLE/NOVEMBER**: Sorry for such a long delay. My beta suggested a re-write of a scene (to which I agreed). Took me three weeks to get back to it, plus I've got two weeks left in the term so I've been busy. But this is also good news! It means that I should be able to update more frequently for the next 3-4 months.


	5. Chapter 5

_Don't be disappointed_

_Don't let your heart break_

_Don't spend another minute_

_In this way_

_It's okay_

* * *

Chapter 5

Forgotten Messages

March 25th, 2186  
19 Weeks Post Activation

Hanna was nearly beating herself against the wall of the shuttle. She had meant to tell her son the good news but had become distracted with the efforts to sort out how many ships had actually escaped the blast wave. Most of the fleets, several hundred vessels had been declared MIA including the _SSV Normandy_. With the relays coming back online including the Charon relay, that number had been reduced down to less than two dozen. But her son's ship, his closest friends, his extended family was still missing and after more than four months it wasn't likely they would be found again. And they were supposed to be under her care as part of the Seventh fleet.

"ETA to the MQLZ (Medical Quarters Landing Zone) is thirty seconds." Her pilot said but the Rear Admiral hadn't heard a word. She was trying to think of how to tell her son that his ship hadn't been found by any of the other escaping ships. But she'd have a little more time if she presented the good news first.

The door to the shuttle opened to show Markus' former squad mate Miranda standing there. She looked nearly as tired as Hanna felt. Anyone that didn't have the technical expertise to help re-build the relays was working to clear the rubble and dead bodies on Earth; they had both been burning the midnight oil every night since the Reapers were destroyed.

"Admiral Shepard," Despite Miranda's exhaustion her voice didn't show any signs of fatigue. "I got your message. I'm sorry but Markus is currently in physical therapy right now. You'll have to come back later."

"I've been commanding starships since before you were a glint in your daddy's eye. He's my son and I'll decide when I see him." She stepped down from the shuttle politely brushing the woman aside.

"I'm going to be honest with you Admiral, your son has been a little unstable these last few days." Miranda said following her.

"I know. I got your message. That's why I'm here." She said continuing on ignoring her.

"As his caretaker I can't permit you to-"

"As his what?" Hanna said interrupting, stopping her already rapid pace at the audacity this woman had. "I'm his mother. And if you tell me I can't see my own son we're going to have a _big_ problem." Her voice had risen close to yelling, attracting eyes from several people in the area.

Fights had become incredibly common in the wake of Earth's forced isolation. More than a few had died before someone had broken them up.

"Now get out of my way before I have you removed."

"Very well." Miranda said stepping aside. "If you must insist, he's in tent B037T."

"Thank you." Hanna continued on her way as if nothing had happened.

Large pieces of Reaper and skyscrapers still littered the streets, but it was far from the post-apocalyptic war zone they had found when the fleets returned. In fact, it was almost livable again.

When she reached the tent on the far side of the London compound she saw Wrex doing his impersonation of a gargoyle: standing perfectly still and on watch for attackers.

"Heads up, he's going nuts in there." Wrex warned her before she opened the tent flap. The two of them had met a couple of times before, but they were all either over a QEC line or in a ward room to discuss troop deployments, repairs, medical treatment, and so on.

* * *

"Tali please," Chakwas pleaded yet again as she began to replace Tali's medi-gel infused patch.

"Will you tell me what happened?"

"I told you." The quarian replied, her voice quieter than it had been in weeks. "I was going to clean it when it went off."

The silver haired doctor put the replacement pad down. "You're telling me that you found Shepard's gun, forgot to check the safety and cartridge, and it just happened to go off before you could bring it down to the armory to be registered?"

She paused, part of her wanting to cry for help, part of her not wanting to have survived and ashamed for even trying. "Yes."

"That settles it then. I'm going to have to confine you to the medical bay under watch."

"I'm fine, really. It barely itches."

"That's not what I'm talking about and you know it. I'm responsible for _everyone's_ safety once injured. You're no exception young lady."

"I said-"

"I'm not about to let you try and kill yourself again Tali." She interrupted. "We could have lost James, we nearly lost you, and we've been stuck out here for over four months with no word from Earth or any other planet for that matter."

"I would nev-" Chakwas interjected yet again.

"If Shepard is alive he'll find a way to get back to you. And if he's dead you're disgracing him by doing this. He'd want you to get over him and be happy."

Tali curled slightly into a ball at the typically serene doctor's harsh words, tears welling in both of their eyes.

"I... I'm so sorry about that. It's just I've lost so many friends because of this war. I didn't want to lose anyone else." She collapsed into a tight, near bone-crushing apologetic hug.

The young quarian couldn't believe this. Chakwas had always been the strongest one among the crew. No matter what happened she always kept her composure. Even better than Markus had.

_"All hands this is Traynor in CIC."_ The English woman's voice sweetly emanated from the ship's communication system. _"I've got something here I think you all should hear."_

* * *

"Really? The-they're okay? They're alive, they're fine?" Shepard asked. It was the happiest he had been for months. Not since his last night with Tali before what had become known as 'the Battle of Hell's Gauntlet' by the survivors from Hammer and Shield/Sword teams.

"Yeah. You're father is coming back with the 4th fleet."

"What about Izzy, Soni and Mandy?" He asked about his older sisters.

"Isabella was near Rannoch on a supply run when it happened. According to her, the geth have been treating her like a princess. Something about how they owe their existence to you." Isabella was Shepard's older twin. Rather than follow with what was the family tradition and join the military, she got work on a non-aligned freighter; working her way up from pilot to captain in three years.

"Sonja was on Benning working with the resistance soldiers, teaching them military guerrilla tactics." Sonja, Shepard's oldest sister had followed suite with her parents and enlisted at 18. While she was still with the family though, she looked after her younger sisters and Markus as a parent would.

"I got part of a message from her. The first thing she did was ask how you were." The two had always been close, even more so once Shepard had enlisted himself.

"Amanda was on one of the last shuttles out from the Citadel. She was working with that old friend of yours, Conrad Verner to help get as many of the children off as possible before the defense fleet was overrun." They younger Shepard couldn't help but grin at his older sister's insanity. She worked herself even harder than he did. Before the war she had been an artist and a damned good one. When the war broke out she sold them all, giving every credit to refugee funds; specifically those helping the children get out of the combat zones.

"What about Tali?" That was the one question he shouldn't have asked.

"They uhh... Markus, sweetie, I'm not sure how to say this, but," He collapsed there. Something in his heart knew they hadn't survived. He made it off Akuze but his platoon had been wiped out. He saved the Citadel Council three and a half years ago, but loosing Kaidan whom he regarded as a close friend in the process. Now, it was his entire motley crew family. And Tali.

"They... they're not dead. They're... just... missing." She sighed out. She knew how bad it was. Five months with every fleet scouring every available sector of space and not a single sign. The odds were unbelievably against any of them surviving this long. But then again, maybe she could actually use that.

"As I seem to recall, I know a certain commander who had a crew that could perform miracles almost as awe inspiring feats as him. Now he, he ran a mako through the Citadel and saved the crew of the _Destiny Ascension_. He wiped out the last corrupted remnants of a corrupted alien race that threatened humanity then became the singular hope for an entire galaxy to live through the next year."

"If you're trying to cheer him up, forget it. I've already tried. Wasted a barrel of my best ryncol trying." Wrex said.

"Listen to me Mark. If your crew is even half as good as you, and I know that even on their worst day they are. You've told me yourself. You've got the best pilot and best mechanic in the Alliance. And I've heard you go on about Tali's skill. There's no way they'll just give up. We'll find them."

"Now come on, I skipped breakfast and it's nearly 11:30."

* * *

Unfortunately for her, Traynor's expertise had run its course weeks ago. She could still help with repairs, but she wasn't usually the one giving orders for repairs.

She had been trying to get the ship's communication system working again, but getting ship-to-ship calls was a low priority. Even the QEC was wreaked. Parts were being salvaged from any system that wouldn't get them home. She had made it her personal pet-project to get it working again but had given up on it after three weeks. The receiver was working, but the transceiver was damaged beyond repair. They'd need a new one, which meant they'd need to get back to the fleet in order to tell them they had survived. She couldn't help but chuckle a little bit at the irony: they'd have to tell them they're alive in person before they could tell them over a text message.

Walking past her station from the former war room which was being used to go over EDI's base coding by the few who could actually understand it. Lucky for her though, her expertise on it was rivaled only by Joker (though his was mostly with EDI's body).

Something caught her peripheral vision. There was an unread message on her terminal! _'Who the hell? Why would they be sending us this after over four months?'_ Her mind started going to bleak scenarios: that not only did the Crucible not work, but most of the remaining fleets had been destroyed. _'No Samantha. Don't go there.'_

She hit play on it, but kept the volume low in case it was bad news. That was likely the biggest mistake she had ever made.

"WHOOO HOO HOOO!" She screamed loud enough to be heard all the way to the cockpit where Joker was running another preflight check.

Everyone practically dropped what they were doing looking to Traynor who was always reserved in confusion, slightly worried about what could elicit such a response from her.

Several tried asking but she had tuned them out. Activating the ship's PA system she spoke to the entire ship. "This is Traynor in CIC. I've got something here I think you all should hear." She then played the message.

_"This is Commander Shepard and this message is for anyone with knowledge about the SSV Normandy SR-2. Anyone with information or better yet the ability to communicate with them please contact me immediately. I'd also ask you to send this along to the crew. There are several encoded personal messages. They'll be able to decrypt them."_

_ "_I'm sending the message to everyone. So start punching in those codes!"

Everyone who gotten to know Shepard closely over their tour (or tours) of service with him immediately opened their omni-tools.

Garrus who was in the cockpit with Joker hesitated for a moment before entering in 'calibrations'. Knowing Shepard, he'd want it to be something that was close to both of their hearts. The sense of humor of course was also not lost.

"_Garrus, first I need to tell you to stop kicking yourself."_ His head sank at the accuracy of Shepard's words. Even in a one-sided conversation he knew what to say. "_I made my choice and as you can see I'm still alive. And mostly well. Just promise me to take care of yourself better."_ With that, the message ended. He couldn't believe it! That's all his best friend had to say! After months of thinking he was dead that's it!

"So, you think they're all going to be that cold."

Stammering for an answer, he eventually answered the pilot. "He must have not wanted to get our hopes up. We don't even know how much of the fleet survived."

"Yeah but still, you two are practically brothers. Just not sure which of you is the pretty one."

"Cause we're both so good looking?"

"Sure, let's go with that." Joker then entered a couple of possible code entries, finally getting it right on the seventh attempt. All he said to Garrus was 'shut up'.

_"Joker, tell me you didn't wreck the ship. Again. Listen, what I did... it likely may have made EDI a little... well, let's just say the alternatives were worse. Well, let's just say if I did this right then you'll have ample opportunity to break those bones of yours._

_ I also know you would have wanted to stay as long as possible. You did the right thing getting out of there. Just tell me you didn't scratch the paint. If you did, I'll kick whatever is left of your ass after EDI is done with it. And no, not _that_ way."_

Chakwas entered in the only thing she could think Shepard might use: the date of his last physical. One of the things he hated most in life. Her heart warmed at what he said. The message he gave her was as good as their conversation when the _Normandy_ was a Cerberus ship, both drunk out of their mind.

_"Tali, I've tried so many times to say something. All I can say is, I'm so sorry for making you leave. I just wanted to keep you safe. I... I'm sorry for so much. I want you to know that I love you. And I always will."_

Ashley's on the other hand, he made a request of her. What he was asking her to do made her stomach turn. _'There's no way he's asking me to do this. He just... he can't.'_ She quietly proceeded up to his quarters and completed the task.

_'He had better have a damned good reason for asking me to do this.'_

* * *

**ABLE/NOVEMBER:**_ I am so, SO sorry for not updating this one sooner, especially with how the cliffhanger on the last chapter. I had finals, and trying to move back home for summer break. I've been busier in the last two weeks than the last two months. No, really.  
_

_Anyway, please review. Rogen80 and kill_phil I look for yours in particular. They actually pushed me into getting this done so I can see what you have to say on this one._

_I would also like to note that things will be getting significantly happier now._


	6. Chapter 6

_Once I rose above the noise and confusion_  
_ Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion_  
_ I was soaring ever higher, but I flew too high_

* * *

Chapter 6

Biding Time

MARCH 26th, 2186

What she had done was wrong. It was wrong down to her core, but what he had asked of her... she understood it, but what she didn't understand is why _her._ Surely Garrus or even Joker would have been a better choice. Oh right, there's no way Joker could keep something like that quiet. He'd tell EDI, and she'd tell Tali.

Okay, so Joker was out. But what about Chakwas? No. She had endured even more than any of them had. Heaping something like that on her would have been cruel. Especially since she was practically a mother to the entire crew. No. There's no way Mark could have done that to her.

So Garrus. The two were brothers. The more she thought about it the more she knew asking Garrus wasn't an option either. As much of a brother as he was to Garrus, he was equally Tali's older brother. He would have been overcome with guilt over what he did and told someone, which in turn, would have worked its way back to Tali.

That left her.

"Hey."

"Hmm? Sorry. What is it?"

"You had a bit of a troubled look on your face. Something wrong?" James sat down beside her on the couch in the starboard observation lounge. Since Ashley had come back after the Cerberus attack on the Citadel it was converted from guest quarters to her own.

"It's nothing."

"You're still a bad liar. I should get a deck of cards."

"Really, it's nothing. Just leave it."

"Never have been good at that Lola." She still blushed at the nickname he gave her.

"Well I'm going to bed. Care to join me?" He offered, stripping down to his underwear and climbing into their bed. He grunted as he took the eye patch off. He couldn't tell if he was more uncomfortable with it on or with it off. Doctor Chakwas tried saving it, but a sliver of the console had shot through the eye and tore at the optic nerves in the back.

"Yeah." Her mind was now trying to figure out what to do, barely paying attention to what he had said as she crawled under the covers with him.

Everything she had grown up on told her what she had done was the most despicable thing she had ever done in her life. Even more than when she had left Shepard on Horizon when she was investigating Cerberus. She called him a traitor, saying what he was doing was one giant insult to what they did together and left him with strangers.

But her mind, her higher reasoning was arguing it. Tali was still a wreck, and with her accident it might push her back over the edge.

* * *

"Okay, preflight checks are complete." Joker said from the cockpit. Since they had gotten Shepard's message he had been much happier, almost to his old self again.

"All systems are reading green Jeff." EDI said from the copilot's seat. "I believe, ninth time's the charm. It is a multiple of three after all."

"Bringing effect core generators up to 100%. Ship's mass has been effectively reduced to 230 kilograms."

"I thought you said generators were functioning at full."

"They are. But the repairs have compromised the field generators."

"Ah. Well we still have enough propulsion to get off-planet."

"Joker, I should inform you I have information you should know before we try to return to Earth."

"And that is?"

"The signals from the mass relay indicate the network was heavily damaged. I am attempting to program a workaround."

"Okay, so what kind of timetable are we looking at?"

"The journey will take approximately fifteen days."

"Fifteen days? What you taking the scenic route?"

"I am attempting to take the safest route possible. We'll have to go through Omega then to Rannoch. From there we should have more options. I believe the geth have re-built most of the network but I cannot confirm without more information."

"Okay, so we'll scope out some land for Tali. Why are we taking so long?"

"From there, most of the homesystems have rebuilt but many are still damaged. We could arrive but not leave."

"Great. So what's the route."

"Omega, Tikkun, Hekate, and Dakka. From there I do not know what route would be safest. It will take us at least five days to travel to there. I am adding the extra time as the relay network is not connected to the Exodus Cluster."

"Fine, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Let's go!"

The ship took off, a little shakily. All of the patches they had made to make the ship space worthy again, its balance was crap.

"Altitude 80,000 and increasing steadily. Engines are distributing power safely."

"Core temperature?"

"Well within parameters."

"Atmospheric integrity?"

"No leaks, though there is some minor fracturing along the Deck Five."

"Okay then. Time to break through the last bit of atmosphere."

The ship rocketed through the upper levels of the atmosphere, spearing itself into space towards the mass relay. Unfortunately, they were in the wrong solar system.

It took them an hour to clear the solar system.

"Bringing FTL mass generators and engines on-line."

"FTL mass generators at 100%. Our mass has been reduced to an effective 12 kilograms. FTL drive is fully operational, no deviations in the programming and all signals are in the green." Their caution was understandable. Every previous attempt resulted in the near destruction of the ship.

"Attention all hands, initiating FTL jump in ten seconds. Repeat, Ten. Nine. Eight." EDI counted down the timer as Joker kept a close eye on the readings.

"Three. Two. One." The ship transitioned seamlessly to super-luminal speeds.

"Smoothest jump since I seen you do jumping jacks." Joker said with his trademark cheeky grin. He hadn't smiled like that for nearly three months.

"I would recommend you get some sleep Jeff. You haven't slept for nearly nineteen hours; since we received the message from Shepard."

"Please, we both know I sleep here."

"Okay." EDI's hands ran over the holographic controls dimming the lights in the cockpit and toned down the intensity of her own visor.

"Is this better?"

"Yeah. Thanks EDI." Joker adjusted himself in the chair, closing his eyes and tried to get some rest. Problem was he was too amped to sleep. Everyone on board had been chomping at the bit to get back when they heard their commander's voice over the PA the day before.

* * *

Shepard had been hurting terribly. The message he sent a week before was an attempt to not only get some closure but at the same time to try and save the last vestige of hope he had remaining that they were still alive.

He had just been getting back to doing the physical therapy regularly, but the information his mother brought him the previous day had shattered him.

"Markie?"

Markus had been lying on his cot in a near catatonic state for the last several hours. Once it finally hit him he became a complete shut-in again. While Wrex had managed to usually get a few words out of him, it took all of his patience to get Shepard out of bed beforehand. Now it was just impossible. In all fairness, krogans weren't renowned for their patience. While Wrex was ten-fold more patient than the average krogan it still a far cry from most other races.

"Markus, come on. It's been nearly thirty hours since you spoke."

He remained immobile on his cot, his mind was somewhere else.

_Shepard leaned on the railing at docking bay D23 overlooking the _Normandy_._

"_Hey there." Tali said coming up behind him, snuggling up on his right side. The rest of the crew quickly joined them, all still slightly hungover from the party the night before._

"_That was a great party. And our little after party..." Tali said drifting off._

"_Yeah," Shepard agreed to with a slight chuckle._

"_Probably our last one though." His grin quickly fading away._

"_No. It isn't. You'll find a way to get us through this. You always do." The rest of the party goers returned to the _Normandy_ leaving the couple standing with a view of their ship._

"_We both know it won't be that easy. Nothing about this has been."_

"_You know, someone once told me "Life is never fair and it's our job to fix that." He was right."_

"_And who may I ask was this wise man?"_

"_You did. Last year consoling me."_

"_So you're saying that, one way or another, we'll make this right?"_

"_Of course." She ran a hand across his lower back, swinging her hips as she strolled to the docking tube._

"_Now, I could use some help. _Someone_ did a bad job putting my suit back on and it's itching."_

"_And?" Shepard said, his voice equally toying._

"_And I need someone to help me with it."_

His memory then snapped back to their last night together.

"_Hey you." Tali said closing the door behind her._

"_Hey. I-I'm sorry. I'll clear this stuff off." He said moving a large handful of pads off of the bed and onto the table._

"_Looks like it got away from me a little bit." He said, dropping a couple of the pads in the process._

"_You okay? I've never seen you like this."_

_He sighed heavily, not wanting to burden her with what was really on his mind. "No. No I'm not. We've assembled the largest military force in history and it... it's just not enough."_

"_You've done everything you can. More than most ever could. Don't beat yourself up over it."_

"_I've run the numbers twice. And I came to the same conclusion both times: you have better odds pulling three straight royal flushes in an honest game of Skyllian Five on Omega."_

"_Long odds. But you've beaten them before. You came back to me didn't you? You saved my people, earning our homeworld _and _an impossible peace with the geth at the same time."_

"_And luck is one fickle bitch. I've made it through much of my life, luck sparing me half the time. My card is coming up."_

"_Why are you being such a pessimist now?"_

"_I'm sorry. So, what do you want to talk about?"_

"_Well since you've suddenly got such a bleak outlook, I think what I'm going to suggest be all the more worthwhile."_

"_What ever happened to that innocent and sweet young woman I knew?"_

"_I believe the expression you have is, "you banged her brains out". Is that right?"_

_Shepard couldn't help but laugh at that. He had already made his decision, but what she said there made it even more absolute. The moment, and he meant the _moment_ the war was over he'd marry her. He didn't care what was going on, soon as the fighting had stopped, he'd get down on one knee and propose. He kept the ring he had bought on their last trip to the Citadel locked in a fake bottom in his desk drawer._

Shepard got up out of the bed, half ignoring his mother who was more concerned about her son than ever before.

"Come on Wrex. I need your help."

"What with?"

"I need tools. A lot of them."

Wrex and Hanna gave each other confused looks, both unsure on whether or not they should do it.

"Erm, okay. Think the geth moved their stockpile to tent W41O."

"Fine, good, let's go." He walked briskly out of the tent hooking a left before the flaps closed.

"Other way Shepard." They could faintly make out his shadow walking back the other way, pace still holding.

"So, has he ever been like this?"

"Once."

"When?"

"After Akuze. He became, anxious; couldn't sit still for more than two minutes."

"So what's he going to do now?"

"I have no idea."

* * *

Once the shock had worn off, Tali had turned back into her old self in a matter of minutes.

She got back down to engineering and made some modifications to the patches on her console to be more in line with how she did things.

"How you feeling kid?" Adams already knew how happy she was, he just missed hearing the elation in her voice.

"Didn't I just answer that?"

"What can I say." He sheepishly admitted. "It's been so good to see you happy again."

"Adams, I-"

"Hey, how many times have I told you. Call me Greg. Shepard did make you Chief Engineer after all."

"...Greg," She corrected. "Thank you for putting up with me for so long."

"I understand. We were all going through the same thing."

"But you held it together."

"On the surface, yes. You have no idea how much crying there was in the bunks."

"I'm not sure if that's actually cheering me up, but thank you."

Something just hit her. "Where are Gabby and Ken?"

"Well they left together for lunch with an awkward silence, so I'd say they're either on the sub-deck or in their bunk."

It took her a moment before she fully realized what he meant by that. When she did, she turned back to her shy self, unsure on how to continue the conversation.

"So, um, do you think your family will be back on Earth waiting for you?"

"My family is serving on a couple of ships. Sister last I heard was navigator on the Benjamin Davis."

"I thought your ships were named after locations or battles."

"Except for carriers. They're named after some of the more extraordinary people in Earth's history. You know, I'd be willing to bet the entire crew's back pay that they'll name the next carrier after Shepard. Hell, they'll probably be naming ships after him for generations."

Tali grinned behind her mask, she couldn't care less about his fame or them naming ships after him. What she was proud of was his integrity; how he always thought about everyone else first. Even in their relationship he never pressured her into anything. In fact, most of the intimate nights involved her making the first move. And the second.

"Yeah, probably. What about your parents? I-I-I mean are they stil..."

"Alive? Yes. And they're spacers just like my sister and I. They're on an agricultural ship: Viridian Zenith. They wouldn't have been anywhere near Earth during the fight."

"Well I hope they're okay."

"Thanks Tali. And I know Shepard well enough to tell you, that when he sees you, it'll be the happiest he'll be all year."

"Thank you... Greg. I uh, I think I'll go help Traynor with fixing the communication relay."

"Go ahead. I've got things well in hand here. But, if you see my two engineers let them know they're supposed to be on duty."

* * *

MARCH 27th, 2186

"Admiral Shepard, I didn't expect to see you here." Hackett said when he entered the tent with the Shepards and Wrex. "And I see your bodyguard is still keeping a close eye on you too."

"Admiral Hackett, good to see you sir." Hanna said, both she and Markus jumping up into a salute.

"Well, guess this will make things easier."

"What will be easier sir?"

"Your transfer to the new carrier _SSV Churchill_. She's to be the new flag of the Sixth fleet."

"Sir, with all due respect, I'd prefer to stay on the _Orizaba. _She's a fine ship with an even finer crew."

"As much as I understand loyalty, they need you on the _Churchill_. The crew is mostly raw recruits that joined just before the Gauntlet. They're having trouble adjusting to the day-to-day operations. With a Shepard in charge, they'll get their act together. Your ship was second in highest morale and efficiency to only one other vessel in the Alliance."

"I appreciate the offer sir, and the complement. I really do. But the reason my numbers are as high as they are is because of my crew. As for the other ship, I take it that belonged to Markus?"

"Your son, yes. And I will only say this once: I'm not requesting you to move to the _Churchill._ I'm ordering it. If you'd like you can bring some of your senior staff with you."

"Well then sir, respectfully refusing to comply. I don't leave my family behind." Her eyes remained defiant to Hackett. This was the first time she had done something like this since she first graduated from basic training. At least then she had the excuse of being the FNG rook.

"We'll deal with this at a more appropriate time Vice Admiral."

"Aye sir."

"In the mean time, I'd like to discuss the other admiral in the room."

"You sir?" Markus asked. Why would he come down to talk about himself? Hackett cared for the spotlight as much as he did.

"No Admiral Shepard." He said, his eyes still looking dead at Markus. "Congratulations, Rear Admiral Markus Shepard." He presented a pair of admiral stars to Shepard.

"Permission to touch?'

"Granted sir."

Hackett removed the commander rank pins from Shepard's collar and put one on each side.

He stepped back as both his mother and Hackett saluted him.

"Congratulations, Admiral." His mother said beaming "I know Anderson would have been proud."

"It was one of the last things he did in fact, though the promotion was for captain. I don't believe anyone will argue."

"Will that be all sir?"

"Just one more thing, your choice of ship. I did some scouting for you, and the captains of three of them are willing to hand the reigns over now."

"I'm good sir."

Hackett paused for a moment, trying to formulate the best way to continue. "Shepard, as a flag officer in the field, it is your obligation to the chain of command to," He paused loosing his train of thought. "To be honest, there hasn't been a flag officer serving as the commander of a frigate since First Contact War."

"Sir, I hate to say this, but I must follow suite with my mother. I'm happy where I am."

"Well, here's a list if you change your mind." He handed a datapad to Markus containing a list of sixteen vessels ready for him to take command of.

"I'll look at it later sir." He lied. "Will that be all?"

"Yes. We're trying to connect the Arcturus Stream and Exodus Cluster to another relay. Though we will need to discuss about this refusal to accept your new postings."

On that note, Fleet Admiral Hackett left the two of them to contemplate what they had done.

Markus took a look at some of the ships, their names, and the senior officers.

_SSV Fuji;_ Everest class dreadnought. The senior staff was all captains, one or two were ICT officers.

_SSV Hawking;_ Sun Tzu class carrier. Cortez had mentioned that he had served on it as a fighter jokey. He would have to talk with him about some of the crew.

_SSV Shanghai;_ Madrid class heavy-cruiser. He had helped run interference for them against the Reapers on Uqbar so they could evacuate the colony.

_SSV Rakaposhi;_ she was the first of her class. She had rolled off the line just before the war erupted. The vessel had taken a series of beatings over the last year.

_ SSV Amelia Earhart; _Sun Tzu class like the _Hawking_. The crew was fairly unremarkable, though apparently a tight-knit group according to the basic service

The list continued on like that, all larger capital ships: carriers, dreadnoughts and heavy-cruisers. He tossed the pad on another worktable and returned to building his new omni-tool.

"So what are you going to do about this?"

"About what?"

"Your new ship, you plan on picking one?"

"Pick what?" He said, immediately forgetting his current orders: pick a new ship.

"Which ship are you thinking of taking?"

"Why would I take one?" He asked. He had already forgotten the conversation, completely engrossed in his work.

"Mark are you listening to me?"

"Yeah, of course."

She decided to test him. "Well cause there's a pink vorcha outside break dancing for juice boxes."

"Nice try mom."

"Nah Shepard." Wrex joined in. I saw him just a minute ago.

Shepard put his tools down, looking up from the chaotic mess sprawled out in front of him. "Look, I just... I can't let my mind wander right now. Please just, leave me alone."

Picking his tools back up he switched back to barely following more than a sentence.

* * *

With Shepard's message coming in Garrus, Tali and Traynor had been trying to get the communication equipment working again.

"Well what if we route the transceiver through the Guardian laser targeting sensors?" Garrus threw out as the trio sat around the the Deck Three dining table.

"No. Won't work." Tali said. "The weapons are designed to be resistant against all hacking attempts. You should know that, all you've done on this ship is work on them."

"I worked on optimizing them." He corrected.

"What about the navigation sensors?"

Traynor shot down Tali's idea. "We run the risk of picking up every conversation along a flight path, broadcasting along it rather than a ship to say our port, or perhaps both. Basically, it's like talking to someone while listening to music and reading a book while on a treadmill all at the same time. EDI's systems will become overwhelmed and we won't get a stable signal."

Garrus groaned. Every time one of them had put an idea forward someone else had shot it down.

"Okay, why don't we just stand on top of the ship and wave our arms." Tali said. She was as weary of it as Garrus was.

Traynor set her coffee cup down slowly, like she was somewhere else.

"Traynor? You didn't get the dextro-coffee did you?"

"Huh? Oh, no. Besides, we ran out of coffee last month. Cup of herbal tea." She said indicating what was in her mug. "I was thinking, what about a signal light"

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, if we can bring the power down on the main gun, it'll produce a light bright enough, long enough and give off a strong enough energy signature that anyone within half a parsec should be able to pick us up."

"Yes," Garrus tentatively agreed. "But we'd also vaporize anyone in our path. I built Sartik to take down Reapers not call for help."

"'Sartik'? You really need to get a date Garrus." Tali jabbed with a slight giggle.

"Is it physically possible to bring down the output down while still keeping the power generation at the same level?"

"Maybe, but it would take days. We'll be in the Tikkun system inside of nine hours. Four after that we'll be in Rannoch's orbit. And that's even _if_ I could get the gun working again."

"So all three of us start working on it. As far as I see it, we don't have anything to lose."

Garrus groaned yet again while Tali's head fell to the table as she laughed.

"Am I missing something?"

"He barely tolerates Shepard in there."

"That's not true."

"Oh please! How many times did you tell him you were "in the middle of calibrations"? And I mean over the last year."

Garrus stuttered, trying to mount some form of defense. "Well, you see, maintaining the... when I'm running a systems check I need to... okay fine. But that's because I don't want anyone messing with my guns. I'm a turian. We're overprotective especially when it comes to weapons."

"Told you."

"There's another problem we'll have: the satalite defense network the geth set up along with reserve ships left behind by the quarians and the geth. And they'll be rebuilding so any incursion would likely react by bringing down the full force of whatever available ships they have. Since we can't talk to them they'll fire on us long before we get within visual range."

"I guess it's a good thing the Reaper code was destroyed in the pulse wave then. Last thing we need is to show up as one of their transport ships."

"Well I don't know about the rest of you," Tali said. "But my head is getting a little heavy. I'll see if I can get some stims from doctor Chakwas."

"Umm..." Garrus said still hesitant.

"Oh come on!" A tired scowl came across Tali's face. "If we're going to have _any_ chane of getting this done on time we _all_ need to be working on it."

Garrus' mandibles flexed slightly, trying to mentally accept the concept of someone other than him working on his beloved.

"Okay, let's get started."

"I'll go get Gabby and Adams." Traynor said getting up from the table.


	7. Chapter 7

_But hear in oblivion_

_We cling to what we can_

_So in the end_

_We can say that with these hands_

_We took it all back_

_It all back_

* * *

Chapter 7

New Arrivals

"Well Garrus, we'll be jumping into the system in two minutes." Joker said from the cockpit. "You got that gun fixed up right?'

"_We'll need another couple of minutes. Can you drop us out early?" _Garrus replied over the intercom from the main battery. He, Traynor, Tali and the rest of the engineering team had been working their asses off to try and get the thanix cannon modified into a makeshift signal light.

"I would not recommend doing so. The ship's hull has been weakened by 27%. With the extra damage we will need to set down for repairs on a repair station."

"_Then tell EDI to get her mechanical ass down here! We need an extra hand."_

"So you finally gotten over your fear of people being in your private sanctuary?"

"_I can get over it later. I won't get over being dead anytime soon."_

"I'm on my way down now." EDI said getting up from her chair. "What problem are you having?"

"_Same one from the start. We can tone down the destructive power but if we do the power output drops too low to be registered by anything outside of 30,000 kilometers."_

"Have you tried altering the metal-intermix ratio. If you decrease the tungsten you should not only render the cannon harmless, and we'll be able to fire more rapidly."

There was a slight pause from Garrus before he replied. _"How did none of us think of that? Tali, bring the ratio to Six to eight to three."_

"_Shouldn't we bring the uranium down too?"_

"_No. We'll need the uranium to maintain the stability of the electromagnetic shell."_

"_Right. Adjusting the ratio."_

* * *

The _Normandy_ dropped out of FTL speeds, making no attempt to slow down or conceal her presence. The latter was not only a safety precaution, but a result of the former: the ship was starting to fall apart. When she came out though, every alarm across the Tikkun system was set off.

"_ATTENTION ALL HANDS!" _The orbital defense station's intercom blared. _"UNIDENTIFIED VESSEL HAS BEEN DETECTED IN THE OUTER SYSTEM. CONDITION TWO, ALL PERSONNEL REPORT TO ACTION STATIONS!"_

Though not formally a member of the military, Isabella Shepard ran for her ship, her long platinum blond hair flowing behind her. Yet one more reason she hadn't enlisted with her twin brother.

She ran through the cargo hold of her vessel, the _White Raven_. She was smaller than the Kowloon class starships but had the advantage of being armed with defensive and a small handful of offensive weapons to ward off pirates.

"Garret!" She hollered at her pilot as she sprinted through her ship's hold. "Get us in the air with the rest of the fighters!" Whenever her ship was with a fleet during an engagement she would volunteer her freighter to act as a mobile SCAWC.

"So much for Innaya station." She grumbled. The station was formerly controlled by the geth heretics. Around two years ago her brother "re-purposed" it bringing more geth onto the allied forces side. She would make fairly regular runs to it and the nearby system to gather whatever materials they could for repairing the mass relays.

"Preflight done." Garret said as he jumped into his seat in the nose of the cockpit. "But Jerry is still on the other side of the station."

"Fucking cock-puss whore!" She slammed the controls on her chair.

"Gerald Wallace! If you are not on this ship in the next twelve seconds I shove my foot up your ass and take a cross continental tour of Rannoch on foot! Do you hear me?!" She yelled over the private comm line.

"_Already on my way boss!"_ A panted voice called back over the line. She wasn't a hardass. She just liked yelling at her crew due to the fact that she got to do it so rarely. It wasn't easy to get him to admit it, but when Markus saw how close they were he conceded that they were even closer than he was with his crew.

While the _Raven _was originally a small personnel carrier that was to be scrapped, her original captain talked the Alliance personnel who was going to tear it apart into giving it to him. He and a group of friend then redesigned it from the inside out. Shepard had since made some modifications herself when she was the pilot, but it still held it's point of pride: it was the fastest freighter in the galaxy. She would have gone with fastest ship period, but her brother didn't feel like racing them.

"Okay. I'm. Here." Walter heaved out as he collapsed into his chair.

"'Bout time. Garret, take us out and hold at one hundred kilometers off from the satellite network.

* * *

"Okay any time now!" Joker said. He had hit the button to begin firing the patter but nothing happened.

"_I don't know what happened. It should have worked!"_

"Well obviously it didn't. And we've got nine squadrons approaching. Looks like the geth have been busy."

"_How long until they intercept us?"_ Joker could hear the door to the main battery open up over the intercom then close.

"Five minutes to missile range. Thirty to visual if we bother to evade the missiles. Ten if we don't."

"_I'll keep working on things here but you might have to do some of that crazy flying."_

"Are we talking normal-crazy or crazy-crazy? Cause, ya know there is a big difference."

"_Umm..."_ Garrus wasn't quite sure what he meant by that. _"The kind of flying like you did on Ilos."_

"Oh, you mean me-crazy. Well okay then."

Garrus worked doubly fast, trying to first identify what went wrong with the firing procedure. '_Power generation is optimal. Okay, maybe it's not getting to the cannon. No, connection leads are solid. Intermix ratio stability? No, not that either. Weapon alignment? Of course not!'_ He finally tracked down the problem. As it turned out, it was to do with power getting to the thanix cannon: with the modifications made there was too much power that needed to be routed through to safely use it.

"_Okay, I fixed it but there's something you should know."_

"And that is?"

"_There's a 50/50 chance that using this thing will cause explosive decompression across most of the ship."_

"Define 'most'."

"_Everywhere except for Shepard's cabin."_ Garrus said with mixed pride and worry.

"So pretty much same as usual then."

"_Yeah. Pretty much."_

"Well then, let's get this show on the road then."

"_One second here." _Garrus evacuated the battery room. _"Okay, good to go here."_

Joker started to slam his hand on the holographic controls to fire the main weapons, hesitating less than an inch from the button.

"Jeff," EDI said once more from her copilot's seat. She had since developed a distaste for taking as the ship. "If we are to send the signal, we should do it now."

"Right. So," He sighed out.

"Here goes nothing." He hit a closed fist on the launch button.

* * *

"This is Captain Isabella Shepard aboard the _White Raven._ All wings report." While she hated the military life she understood its importance, even more so in the last year. It amazed her that they were focusing on rebuilding the fleets as much as clearing up the debris. There still hadn't been any word yet about rebuilding the affected worlds.

The squadrons reported in, all in arrowhead formations.

"Rachel, has the vessel still made no attempt to communicate?"

"Five tries across all languages. Nothing." The communication and navigation officer replied.

"Very well then. This is _White Raven _to all pilots. You have permission to engage. Squadron One-Six engage. Two-Eight and Two-Ten will follow at five thousand kilometers. All other squadrons hold position for further orders." Working with the geth military was horrible. All they ever used was numbers, no names! It made it nearly impossible to remember which was which. Thankfully, they were pretty understanding about how easily confused most organics got about their "names".

"Wait a minute, there's something odd going on with that ship."

"Define 'odd' Jerry. Are they retreating?"

"No. It's the energy signature. It's... fluctuating. There's something familiar about it."

"Can I see?"

"Make it quick. If it's an attempt at communication they'll be in range of the missiles in twenty seconds."

Rachael turned her chair to look at the sensor screen at weapons control. "I think I know what this is. Something linked to the military. Ah, what was it?"

"_This is geth fighter Two-Eight-Five. We are in range and have opened fire."_

_'Great. They're shooting at the target and whomever it is might be trying to say hi.'_ "So what is it exactly?"

"It's a repeating pattern. Four dots, a dash, three more dots then three more dashes. It repeated twice then died." Rachael said.

"Whoa! I don't think that was an attempt at communication. That was weapons fire! The energy signature is along the lines of a thanix cannon."

Something felt off in Isabella's gut. Why would they fire in such a precise pattern like that? Why not a string of quick ones or a couple of long shots? "All fighter squadrons, were any of you under a target log?" The squadrons replied with a complete string of negatives from each and every geth and quarian pilot.

The feeling in her guy got even worse. _'No locks and they put out enough power from a thanix to take out two cruisers?'_

"Damn, you're right." Isabella said looking at the energy signal that had been broadcast. It finally clicked as to what it was.

The ship was using the thanix cannon to broadcast a message in code.

"_Missiles will impact in fifteen seconds."_

"Rach, run that pattern through a decode. Start with Morse and work your way out from there."

"Running." Her fingers danced over the holographic keys.

"_Five seconds to impact."_

"Oh shit!" She cursed out when the computer spat out the most likely answer: SR2. "This is _White Raven _to all fighters! Cease fire! I repeat, CEASE. FIRE!"

The estimated positions of the missiles had gathered too close to the ship to determine whether or not they had prematurely detonated successfully.


	8. Chapter 8

_Tell me why you're here_

_You could walk away right now_

_No one would stop you_

_You're free to choose your own way_

_Don't be afraid of the choice you make it's all right_

* * *

Chapter 8

Damages

"Oh shit! Incoming ordinance!"

"Thanix firing sequence is complete."

"Beginning evasive maneuvers! Can we divert power to the ECM?"

"We have a larger issue."

"More so than twenty missiles that'll vaporize us inside of a minute?"

"Power conduits along the entire ship are overloading. We must have overestimated the damage they had received."

"Can you re-route it?"

"No. We have a blowout in the cargo hold, sub deck in engineering, main battery, crew deck lounge and war room." The ship rocked repeatedly as the power systems died, including engines and artificial gravity. Without the acceleration though, the crew didn't run the risk of being pancaked on the walls.

"It appears, we have also blown out the H2 power cells." The entire ship went dark as she spoke.

"Dammit! Did the bulkheads seal?"

"I believe so. Crew is reporting in via omni-tool. No casualties."

"Well that's some good news at least. What about the missiles?"

"I cannot say, but based on my estimations, I would say they will impact in less than ninety seconds."

"Oh yeah, good day."

"Jeff, if this shall be the end of our existence, I have a request."

"What?"

"Would you say it?"

"Say what EDI?"

"You know."

Truly opening up to someone was Joker's weakest spot. He loved EDI with all his heart and he knew she felt the same way. But he just couldn't bring himself to say 'I love you' to her.

"Would you... like me to say it first?"

He remained silent, still trying to say it himself.

"No." He pushed himself off from his chair floating to her.

"I love you, EDI." He then kissed her. Another first for the couple. He could feel her gently biting his lower lip.

He then reverted slightly to his old self. "So, assuming we aren't blown back to the bronze age, I'm getting laid after this right?"

A string of explosions from the incoming rockets blinded Joker, the shockwave followed causing the ship's velocity to slow whilst the crew plowed into various walls. EDI's quick reflexes kept Joker from plowing into the forward screen breaking his fragile bones.

* * *

'Oh my god' Was the general reaction to the crew of the _White Raven_.

"Did..." Rachael said slowly. "We just... destroy... the _Normandy_?"

"I-I-I don't know. I-I mean, their energy signal died before they got close so... so it's... I mean I don't uh,"

"HEY!" Isabella shouted from her chair. "Jerry, I need you to identify their position, bearing and speed. Rach, get on the squawk box and get a wing out there to investigate."

The two nodded, absolutely terrified about what just happened.

"Oh," Shepard added. "Tell the wing they are not to fire unless fired upon _FIRST_! Those quarian pilots tend to get a little trigger happy."

"Geth squadron Nine-Eight this is _White Raven._ Dispatch a wing and investigate the vessel. You are not to fire unless fire upon. I repeat, do _not_ fire first. Coordinates are," She turned to the other side of the bridge. "Jerry, what are those coordinates?"

"Position is 2 AU from Rannoch, heading zero-two-four by three-three-one. Speed was... point five seven."

"Did we seriously just blow up your brother's ship?!" Garret said. He had been speechless for the entire event so far.

"Shut it Garret!" Shepard yelled. She was mentally kicking her own ass a hundred different ways for what she had done, and she was taking it out on her friends.

Rachel meanwhile had relayed the navigational information to the geth fighters and they were closing in.

* * *

Ashley had been floating through the crew deck tending to the injured. Mostly it was just mild bruising, a couple of broken bones and a concussions were scattered among the crew.

"Hey Joker, what the hell's going on? We under attack?"

_"Yes and no."_ The voice replied via her omni-tool.

"How can it be both?"

_"Well, those initial explosions were technically me. That massive thud everyone took on the wall was the quarian home fleet shooting at us."_

"Seriously?"

_"Hey, it's not the worst thing I've done. I mean, I only did half as bad as the last surprise attack."_

"JOKER! Not cool!"

_"Sorry. How's the damage down there?"_

"Main gun and port lounge doors are sealed. Think they got vented. Engineering crew is stuck down on Four. Couple of minor injuries; Chakwas is tending to them. How are things back up top?"

_"We got the briefing room. War room is sealed. Probably the same on the hole theory and same on the crew. Well, minus Chakwas. Wait a minute. We got something approaching. I'll get back to you."_

_ 'Great. Last thing we need.'_ They survived nine kinds of hell for three years only to be taken out by their allies after drifting their way home after months of trying to survive on the ass-end of the galaxy.

* * *

Joker looked out the viewscreen hesitantly, hoping that the ships wouldn't resume their fire on them, or worse, board and kill them.

"EDI," He called back to CIC where she was helping to tend to the injured. "Need you to get up here."

The AI pushed off of her surroundings, moving from wall to wall with extraordinary force.

"I thought you said you weren't injured."

"I'm not, but we've got a couple of fighters incoming. I can't tell if they're geth or pirates. Take a look."

"One moment." She fainted squinting; one of several courtesies she had picked up since she and Jeff had started dating.

"You're first assessment was right: three geth fighters. I am attempting to make contact."

She remained silent for the briefest of seconds.

"I have explained our situation to them. They are dispatching a number of frigates to tow us in to one of the orbital stations. I would advise the crew to remain calm. The ships will not arrive for several minutes and the air filtration systems are currently non-operational."

Joker opened his mouth to make a barely witty remark but decided against it. Instead he gestured to EDI asking her how long it would be until the crew ran out of air.

"... I will ask if they can spare a couple of oxygen tanks and masks to distribute to the crew when they arrive."

* * *

"Isabella, good and better news. The ship wasn't destroyed and it _is_ the _Normandy_. But they have taken severe damage and are requesting a tow."

"Along with emergency O2 tanks." She added a moment later.

"Send a reply message: welcome home _Normandy_. And the tow is on us, courtesy of Isabella Shepard."

The communications officer relayed the message as the freighter, which was in all honesty, was barely as large as the _Normandy _broke position to tow the crippled frigate home.

* * *

"I need to talk with you." Wrex said to Hanna in as quiet a tone as he could.

"Sure."

The pair stepped outside. Markus had been working for almost two days straight on his "distraction" project. His eyes were sullen with heavy rings.

"What is it Wrex?" Hanna asked after Wrex lead them a couple tents down. Apparently he knew how loud he'd be.

"The Aralakh relay became operational last night and some of my people are trying to push for the old ways." He didn't need to continue for her to know what he was asking.

"He's not looking too good."

"Wrex," She cut him off before he could go on. "Go. I can take care of him. You've done more than enough."

"Don't know about that. So far I'm still repaying my debt to him."

"Still keeping up that story?"

"Pretty much. Word gets out I have a soft spot for a human, even Shepard they'll de-throne me." He cackled.

He returned a serious look in her eye. "I see where Shepard got his strength. He's tough. Even by krogan standards."

"And you're sweet Wrex." She returned the compliment. "Even by human standards."

"Heh-heh-heh." The red warrior then gathered his troops heading for the landing pad.

Hanna sent a message to her crew on the _Orizaba_ to get a couple dozen shuttles from across the Fifth fleet and give the warriors a ride back home. "Good luck Wrex." She whispered. Over the last few days she had grown to like him quite a bit, the fact that he watched over her son for so long compounding ten-fold.

She returned to the tent to see Markus rubbing his face with his flesh hand. Sixty-one hours straight with no rest. "So, what did Wrex want?"

"Tuchanka's getting a bit rowdy. He had to head home."

The last word set Markus off. He started smashing his attempts at the home-built omni-tool with his prosthetic hand, cursing up a fervent storm. He finally stopped after his fist broke through the two inch thick steel table.

"Mark, I know it's not what you want to hear but..." She hated what she was saying. It would hurt him but at the rate he was going he'd try and kill himself sooner or later.

"Maybe... you should try letting her go." The tears welling inside of her were almost as thick as the ones in his.

He looked at her, a mix of anger, shock and pain on his face.

"Let her go?" He repeated in disbelief.

"Let her go!?" The second time the anger taking its place.

"How long would it take you to let dad go? Or Mandy, or me?"

"I-" Hanna choked up trying to continue. "I know you love her, but... Mark look at yourself."

"SO WHAT!? By the end of it I couldn't care less if the rest of the galaxy BURNED as long as _she_ was okay I was too." He collapsed into her arms.

"She was all that kept me going." He broke down, all the pain and hurt he that had been boiling under the surface erupted at once. Months of anguish bursting from his breaking voice and tear soaked eyes as the once invincible image was shattered.

All Hanna could do was rub his shaggy hair like she did when he was small, quietly whispering to him.

"It's okay." She said. "It's okay." Her own tears running down her face.

He finally passed out after what felt like an eternity for the both of them.

Hanna then did the one thing she swore she wouldn't do: she called Miranda for help.

* * *

"You're... Shepard's... sister?" Ashley said with suspicion.

"Twin, actually. I beat him by six minutes."

"No offense, but you're not the first one to claim to be a sibling of his."

Isabella shouldn't have been surprised. If the rolls were reversed she probably would have been just as suspicious.

"He ever tell you about Akuze?"

"If you're really his sister then you know he doesn't like to talk about it."

"But that wasn't what got to him." She was using one of the most painful memories her brother had to prove her own identity. She had done so only once or twice to prove to people who had served with Shepard to prove she was who she said she was. Everyone else though just assumed since their faces were fairly similar that they must be siblings. "It was the letters. He wrote the families of every member of his platoon."

"That's public knowledge."

"But what isn't is when he did it. He started on the evac shuttle and didn't stop until he was done. Refusing medical treatment and sleep; trying to get the wording just right. That's what tore him up most. Sonja, our oldest sister, took a couple of days leave she had planned to spend with her boyfriend to help get him back on his feet. Satisfied?" She finished with a biting tone.

"Yeah." Ashley said remembering herself when he told her about Akuze. His eyes had drifted off like he was reliving it again.

"So, this is Markie's new ship."

"I'm sorry, did you just say 'Markie'?"

"Yeah. Mom and dad called him that to be endearing. The three of us just taunted him with it. So, let's see what we can do about the damage."

"Are you billing the Alliance for it or is it on the house?"

Isabella scoffed at Ash's rhetorical comment. "I'm billing him directly. Jackass owes me a race and I'll use this to get him to cash in."

"That's it?"

"Mark said that the original _Normandy_ was the fastest ship in the galaxy. I argued that my _Raven_ could still run circles around it. He didn't feel like backing his words with action."

"Damn," Ashley said astounded. "You really _are_ his twin."

Isabella took the infamous stance that her brother held for the recruitment posters.

"I should go." She said. Her tone and beat were almost identical to his.

The pair broke into gut-bursting laughter.

"Hey Lola, not that I don't enjoy your laugh, but we've got a lot of scrap to haul off." Vega said carrying a large armful of torn bulkhead pieces down the ramp tossing it into a pile off to the side.

Ashley turned back to look at their home. At this point it looked like it was being held together with chewing gum and wishful thinking.

"Poor girl took quite a beating. Worst part is, they'll probably just scrap her."

A smirk crept up Ashley's lips "Oh, I don't think so. She can have quite a temper." Looks like she'd have a few things to surprise Shepard's sister with.

* * *

Tali awoke to find herself staring at the bright and intense glow of med bay's lights.

"So, what happened?" He head was pounding.

"Hey, there sunshine." Joker was sitting on a chair next to her bed.

"Um, Joker? What happened?"

"Well, the ship nearly blew up. Then was nearly blown up again."

"How bad?" She was looking around for damage, surprisingly finding almost none.

"I'm getting there. Anyhow, after that Shepard's sister gave us a tow into a shipyard in orbit."

"Which one?" She climbed off the tall bed, looking around but there still weren't any signs of damage.

"Wait, what? He's got more then one?" His eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas. "Score!"

"Don't you have a girlfriend?"

"Doesn't mean I can't window shop."

_"I'd be careful what you say, _Jeff_."_ EDI called over the intercom.

"Okay, so where's all this damage?"

"Most of it was cleaned up. You won't believe just how hard the geth are working to get us space worthy again."

"Hmm... So, what happened to me?"

"You hit the wall pretty hard. Chakwas didn't want to risk taking your mask off until after we got the power back. You've been out for a couple of hours."

"Oh keeah!" She started to move for the door.

"Yeah you can pretty much forget working. The geth told us to stay out of the way. EDI's working with them to make sure they get the paint the right color. Beyond that, we're pretty much on leave."

The pilot got up slowly. "Come on, let's get some real food. Bet you're starving."

* * *

Tali and Joker made their way through the station. Despite being a geth construct, it was far more natural looking than the dreadnought she had been on.

The cafeteria though, keelah it was huge! At least fifty meters long, thirty wide and ten tall. There was even a second floor with more tables on it. A man with a dark haired bowl cut waved the two of them over to the table that he and a few other humans were sitting at.

"So she's finally awake huh." An attractive blonde woman sitting next to him greeted them. "Please, sit." They all had polished trays with half eaten food in front of them.

Tali sat down awkwardly, unsure of why they had joined them.

"I'm-

"Tali. Yes I know. Markie told me all about you. He rarely praises people as high as he did you. To be honest, he actually rambled."

"Markie?"

"Sorry. Guess he didn't tell you about me. I'm Isabella Shepard."

"Oh. The freighter captain."

"No way he spoke that highly of me. Hey Gerald, would you go grab some food for them?" One of the other members of what was likely her crew stood up and got in line at the cafeteria's line.

"He uh, used some different words. Have you heard from Earth?"

"I bet. Don't worry; I've called him far worse. Place got trashed even worse as the Reapers came crashing down."

"I meant have you heard about Markus? We got a message a couple of days ago but that's it."

"It took him two years to get back from an orbital drop without a landing strategy. Honestly, how long do you think a station blowing up in his face would keep him down?"

"So you've heard from him since?"

"Like I said, communication has been difficult. Geth have the relays working as far as the Nubian Expanse. You could go farther but there's no options in traveling beyond the next sector."

"Can. I. Talk to him."

"I actually have a massive favor I'm asking you on that note." A bit of a wild grin slid its way across her face.

* * *

When Isabella finished explaining her plan Tali was aghast. How could siblings treat each other this way?!

"Before you say anything, I know my brother. One way or another he'll be going insane and climbing the walls. This way, you get the all of that joy at once and in person."

Tali thought it over. Twisted as it was, it did seem to make sense. "But isn't that still mean?"

"Let's just say the rest of us are still getting back at the crap he did to us as a kid. It should finally be good enough to even the score."

"But even so, I mean it's..."

"The four of us grew on moving from ship to ship. It made getting to... know a guy, rather difficult. He box blocked me at nearly every chance."

"What kind of box was he blocking that... oh..." Her feelings of social awkwardness started kicking back up again.

"Sorry kid. Forgot you used to talking about this kinda thing."

* * *

Despite her wishes she had to return to the _Orizaba_ and continue supervising the repairs to the relay system. So far Earth had been reconnected to Aetheon, the DMZ, Annos, Horsehead, Aipen, Arcturus and Exodus. _'At lest the dextros won't starve now.'_ Food stores were getting low for all of the races, but even more so for the turian and quarians who had fought. They were rationing the food so sparsely that they were barely surviving.

She ran her hands through her snow-white hair yawning deeply while she did so. Though still short, it was long enough that she could change the style every so often. Not that she ever did, but it was nice to have the option. It was late and she knew it. Ever since the Gauntlet she had been burning the oil hard at both ends.

Her omni-tool pinged. A message from CIC. "Yes, what is it?"

_"Admiral, I know it's late but a message just came in for you."_

"Hold it until morning."

_"I thought you'd like to know it's your daughter Isabella ma'am."_

"I thought I told you to route any calls from my family to me regardless of time."

_"I'm sorry ma'am. Won't happen again."_ The communication officer forwarded the message.

Hanna routed it through her private terminal. _"Hey mom! It's me, obviously." _Isabella said standing center of the screen her face covering most of it.

_"I figure this'll be getting into Earth pretty late so if I wake you I really do apologize, but I figured you should know now. Markie's ship came in. She was beat to hell, but everyone made it."_

Every weary muscle in her body disappeared in an instant. Some of it being replaced with regret at what she had been saying to her son. _"But I don't want you to tell him. I've got something that'll knock his freaking socks off. Ultimately it's your call but this will fall apart if anyone says no. I've already talked the rest of the _Normandy_ crew into it."_

Her daughter then went on to explain her plan. When she finished Hanna couldn't help but laugh at some of the absurdity. "Twenty years and you're still trying to get back at each other huh?" Isabella couldn't hear her of course, the message was prerecorded but it still needed to be said.

She thought it over for a few minutes, eventually deciding to go with it.

She made one last check at the time: half past three in the morning Earth Standard Time. She'd be on duty again in six hours. _'The joys of command.'_ The only time her service duties had arguably allowed her a 'decent' amount of sleep and she had four small children to look after.

"Oh he's gonna be pissed about this." She said before getting what little sleep she could before the day shift.

* * *

**ABLE/NOVEMBER:** _So of course the SR wasn't destroyed! Please review, it's what keeps me going. Rogen80 and kill_phil can't do it on their own._

_Also feel free_ to speculate what Izzie's plan is.


	9. Chapter 9

**ABLE/NOVEMBER:**

****FLASHING WARNING LIGHTS****

**ATTENTION! ATTENTION!**

****FLASHING LIGHTS END****

I need to inform everyone, this is a double update!

I realized last night that I've been dating the chapters a little wrong. Like after the new year and you're still using the old one. So, to confirm, it hasn't been over a year but rather only a few days.

* * *

_We ride fast they take their sweet time_

_We only want to have a good time_

Chapter 9

Coming Home

April 9th, 2187

"Already?" Joker asked for the third time in a row.

"Jeff, repeating the question will not change the fact. And it is a favorable fact."

"I know it's just, damn. Was some fast work."

"The geth do not require sleep. And in previous months they had been working omni-directionally. With a focused effort they have been able to work at a rate that is over 1200% by comparison."

"Wow. That's pretty damn fast."

"I have also received a signal from the _Raven_. They've already tested the network. We're clear to go through Hades. Then it's to the Nubian Expanse, Shadow Sea, Argos Rho, Exodus Cluster, Arcturus Stream, then finally Earth."

"Sweet. How long to get there?"

"With the side stop at Benning it will take us little over a day and a half.."

_"__Hey Joker, could you lower the ramp?"_ Tali called over the ship's intercom. _"Garrus, James and I finished picking up the reunion supplies."_

Joker lowered the ramp allowing the trio plus a small team of geth carrying various party supplies.

"I'm sending the message to Admiral Shepard."

"Which one?" EDI joked.

"Right. Forgot about that. You uh, you think he'll stay with us or do you think he'll take another command?"

"Knowing Shepard, I would say the probability of him remaining is 91.3%."

"So what's with the other eight point seven?"

"The remaining percentage is the forced tradition of admirals taking positions withing Alliance Command or a command capital ship such as a carrier or dreadnought."

"Yeah there's no way in hell he'll take a desk job."

"I equally believe that outcome to be unlikely."

_"__Okay, everything is loaded up and the geth have departed. We're ready to launch whenever you are."_ Her voice had an extra pound of chipper it it. Only a day and a half days until she got to see her Shepard again.

Vega was back in his old spot doing chin-ups once more; Ashley watched from across the bay with a rather peculiar look.

Tali in turn had started pacing around the cargo bay as the SR-2 backed out of her docking birth.

"Yo Sparks. You'll wear a hole in the deck plate you keep pacing like that." He didn't stop or even slow his pace.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Her mind and stomach were aglow with warm, fuzzy thoughts about her reuniting with Markus. She was all kinds of pent up and looking for a vent.

"Hey Tali," Ash pushed herself off the wall. "How 'bout you come with me? You should figure out what you'll do when you see him."

"I'm pretty sure I know what we're doing."

"Well obviously there's that, and afterwards there's _that-_that."

Tali let a smile slip through under her mask.

"So what are you going to do when you see him?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"You want this to be perfect right? Okay, we're gonna do some role playing here. James! Get over here. We need a stand in."

"What am I standing in for?"

"Shepard. Duh!"

* * *

April 10, 2187

The SR-2 traveled at high FTL speeds for nearly twenty hours straight. Eleven to get to the Arcturus Stream, another nine to reach the Euler system where Shepard's eldest sister Sonja was.

Since the end of the war she had been working on helping to re-build the cities.

Dropping out of FTL, Joker sent a message to the 319th Marine platoon. They were the only Alliance forces left when the liberation of Earth began.

The ship barely made it into orbit before an Alliance cruiser came up along side them.

_"__This is _SSV Moscow. _Requesting permission to dock to transfer requested personnel."_

"Copy _Moscow._ Extending docking arm."

Garrus, James and Ashley went to the CIC docking hatch to welcome the new Shepard onboard. Traynor stood with Joker in the cockpit.

"I never knew Shepard had such a big family." Traynor said. "He ever talk about his sister to you?"

"Not really. I mean, I know they were close. He'd chat with her a couple times on the old _Normandy _but I never met her. Think he tried to keep it that way." He had tried a couple of times to look her and the rest of his sisters up, but every extra-net site he went to had been blocked under the Commander's SPECTRE code. Now he got to find out what all the fuss was about.

* * *

The docking hatch from the _Moscow_ opened revealing an attractive woman. Garrus never had a thing for humans, but this one... _'spirits! There's no way they're related.'_

"TEN HUT!" Ashley yelled. The three of them all threw their arms up in a salute, their backs going rigid.

Shepard's sister put a sweet smile on her face. How was it that she was affecting him so much? "Thanks Garrus, but you're not Alliance."

He couldn't really do much at that but to slowly lower his arm, looking to James and Ashley for what to do. They remained stiff as a board, bladed hand still raised.

She then returned the Alliance officer's salute. "At ease. So, I take it you're James and Ash. Think I can get a tour of little Markie's boat?"

She walked past them, a slight bounce as she did.

"Oi ya chika." James whispered under his breath as both men leaned their heads out of the airlock to watch her walk away.

Ashley smacked him upside the head. "Hey! Eyes front soldier."

Sonja was sitting in the cockpit talking with Traynor, EDI and Joker.

"So, what exactly was Shepard like when he was little? He's pretty much refused to talk about it.

"He was a royal pain in the ass. I'm talking dead opposite of what he is now."

"Really?" Joker was on the edge of his seat with excitement.

"Yeah! Since he was the youngest, well along with Izzie. Anyway, since there were four of us plus the fact that they were back on duty full time they didn't have much time for us. I kinda became the mother for when they weren't home. Bright side, we typically got to be on dreadnoughts and carriers sine they had a family. Sorry, I'm getting off topic."

"Anyhow, when he was ten,"

* * *

Cortez had dragged Shepard away from three separate fights that day.

"Come on." He said after the last one, a two on one fight with a pair of asari. "We're getting something to drink."

Cortez walked him to a small 'watering hole'. A gin still set up behind one of the barrack tents.

The two pounded back round after round. Somewhere around the thirtieth Cortez started asking. He knew Shepard wouldn't talk without being hammered.

"So, what exactly is going on with you?" He was slightly drunk himself.

"It's _this damned thing!"_ He said slamming the shot glass down with his mechanical hand.

"Okay, not sure what you mean."

"I hesitated. The uh, there was an AI. I had a couple options there."

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Yeah. The uh, the report. I read it." Turned out, he was more than a little drunk. This stuff was much harder than what he and James would drink.

"You die and controll them, you... fuse life with technology, or destroy synths." They began refilling their glass while the other talked.

"And I hesitated. I hesitated because of a dead geth."

"You did the right thing. You know that right?"

"Four months trapped in post-apocalypse, killing my family?"

"Erm, your family is still alive."

"My service family."

"Ah. Well, think about this, if you didn't, what would have happened?

"Whole galaxy would have kept burning. Then again in another cycle. So?"

"So, you saved billions. Pretty damn good work. Turning that thing on probably would have done the same thing no matter what. No one else made it to the Citadel."

"Way to make me feel better."

"What I mean to say, is you've _always_ done the right thing."

"Until now."

"Bullshit. Tell you what," He grabbed a large mug and filled to the brim.

"Drink this." He handed it to him.

"Why don't you have a big one?"

"Cause!"

"Cause why?"

"Cause you're THE COMMANDER!" Throwing his arms out.

"Oookaaaay!" Shepard turned the cup up and started chugging. He kept leaning back as the near pitcher sized glass back.

"YEAH HA! GO SHEPARD!" Cortez cheered him on.

Before it emptied into his gullet Shepard fell back in out of the chair.

"Shepard?" He was responded with snoring.

"Hey Jack?" The once psychotic biotic had been running the still. She loved watching all of the people coming through get plastered. It amused her. She had since cooled off in the last three months considerably not to mention letting the rest of her hair grow out. It didn't look particularly good but most of that was centered on the fact that she hadn't picked a style. She never thought about looking good for someone but she was never close enough to anyone to consider things like this.

"Someone should take 'im back to the tent."

"Sure thing. You good?"

"Oh yeah." He made it a couple of steps before falling flat on his face unconscious.

"Men. Can't hold their liquor for shit." Jack called Miranda for help dragging the passed out men back to their beds.

"Couldn't you have gotten someone else to do it?" Miranda said when she saw them.

"Sure, but I needed to see my babe." She threw a weak pull field around Miranda, grabbing her waist and kissing her. They had since gone back (and forth several times) to the 'love each other' point in their relationship. Jack took Cortez while Miranda took Shepard.

"Hm, dragging your nearly dead ass onto a table. Well this isn't familiar at all huh?" She said to the sleeping form when she got him back to his cot.

* * *

Hanna's omni-tool pinged late at night with a new unread message.

_"__Hey mom!" _It was Sonja. _"I'm on the _Normandy_. They are so wonderful! I mean, they've been trying to make me feel like family. I'm talking going out of their way to be nice to me. It's kinda weird. Kinda got used to it when he made SPECTRE, but seeing it coming from them, it's kinda weird. I'm starting to see Shepard's been wanting to stay with them. Just one thing, is there something between Tali and Mark? I know they've served together for a long time, but there's something about her..."_

She was almost as dense as he was.

* * *

April 11, 2187

"So, how are we going to do this?" Sonja said to Ashley. The two were in the AI core room. She had put her cherry red hair up in a ponytail, drawing extra attention to her emerald eyes.

"Isabella didn't tell you?" Ashley was surprised at this.

"She didn't give much on specifics, just that we're surprising him."

"Okay." Ashley laid out the plan to Shepard's sister. She only hoped that the last one would have already been told of the plan. There was one thing that had been kept a secret from the rest of the crew and his sisters. Only Ashley and Isabella knew.

"Wow. That's actually pretty brilliant."

"You're surprised?"

"Let's just say that she was never the most creative of individuals. So, shall we get started setting up in the galley?"

"Yeah. The entire crew is ready to pitch in; all we have to do is ask."

"Okay. Let's get Garrus, James and the cynical one, Javik was it?"

"Javik." She confirmed.

"Right. Let's get those three on the taller decorations. Does anyone on the ship know how to cook?"

_"__Specialist Traynor received several complements from the food she helped me prepare at the party before our assault on Cerberus." _Ashley had forgotten that EDI had ears all over the ship. Still, it was more secured than anywhere else.

"Wait, I didn't ask EDI that."

"She didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"She's an AI. And that she and Joker are dating."

"Okay, circle around to that last note later." She looked up to the ceiling before continuing.

"If it's okay with you, I'd like you to quietly inform Traynor and please assist her."

_"__It is no problem. I'd also like to thank you for being so polite, though you don't need to alter the way you speak to me as any other."_

"I'll remember that EDI. So, do you know anyone else who can help us out with the rest of the preparations?"

_"__I have locked Diana Allers in the room Shepard assigned her. I was worried that she might broadcast your plans, informing Shepard indirectly. Though I am rather certain that the engineering team will be wanting to help along with doctor Chakwas."_

"That should be enough extra hands." The women left the AI core and fervently got to work. They only had a handful of hours available to them, and at least half a day's worth of work to do.

* * *

**ABLE/NOVEMBER:**

Remember, this is a double update so click that little next button just below and go on to the next chapter!

But before you do, please review. I love to hearing everyone's thoughts.


	10. Chapter 10

_I throw my hands up in the air sometimes,_

_Saying AYO! Gotta let go!  
I wanna celebrate and live my life,  
Saying AYO! Baby, let's go!_

Chapter 10

Happy Reunions

"Yo! Markie!" His sister gave him a light shake in his cot.

"Uuuurrrrrgh..." He was half hungover, half still asleep.

"Markie, wake up. Happy birthday!"

"Fuck off." He said. He didn't want to see anyone. Not today. Not on his birthday.

"Come on Mark. Don't you even want to see which sister is saying 'hi'?"

"I know it's you Isabella."

"Huh. I thought it was 'Izzie'. You've used it since we were five."

"Fuck off." He repeated. It was 9AM but as far as he and his body was concerned, it might as well have been five.

"Oh no. You don't get to talk to me like that." She pulled him up by the collar letting him rest his pounding head on her shoulder.

"I got something to help keep your mind busy. Come on."

"What are we doing?"

"You remember my old friend Captain Raleigh of the _Ain Jalut_? He's giving you his ship for the day. He'd also like you to take a look at some modifications he's made. As commander of two Normandys he said he'd be honored with your opinion."

"Fine. If it'll get you to leave me alone."

"Good. He's at the new Haephestus ship breaking facility."

"Why is he there?" He said slowly getting up.

"Here." She handed him a pair of earplugs and a set of heavily tinted sunglasses. "Figure it should help take the edge off."

They left the tent, where the light and sound nearly knocked Shepard back on his ass. Putting the glasses on and the buds in, the pain lessened considerably.

"Thanks."

"Sure thing. He's there because landing anything larger than a shuttle within ten miles of city limits is now illegal. It was getting harder and harder to tell what was being taken apart and what was being scrapped. With them landing in only a couple places it's easier to track vessels coming and going."

"Not exactly answering my question."

"It's quicker than a shuttle ride."

"Hm." He grunted.

The day matched his mood. Heavy gray overcast with a light drizzle.

At the brisk pace they had, it took them about forty minutes to reach Hephaestos though no words were exchanged. Even with a planet-sized hangover, Markus kept pace with Isabella with no issue.

Hephaestos was the largest facility on Earth of its kind; the only in fact. Hulks of several dozen ships from nearly every race: human, turian, asari, and salarian vessels made up the bulk. They were ones that were either too damaged to return to their own worlds, or had been declared too expensive to repair. Mostly the the corpses of frigates laid stripped to the bone to rebuild Earth.

"Come on, what are we really doing here?"

"Mom told me how down you've been. I thought, maybe this might help a bit."

"Sure." His answer was absent.

"Okay, we're here." Markus looked up to see a vessel larger than the _Normandy_-class should have been.

"I thought we were here to see the _Ain Jalut._ What's this?"

"_SSV Ain Jalut._. Serial number F102-575368-SR3. It rolled off the line a month before the war broke out. Let me guess, you were expecting the smaller model like the SR-1? I got to take a look at it, those Cerberus engineers did a pretty good job with her design."

"Yeah." He was remembering what Tali said when she came on board. She didn't trust any of the new crew but had likewise complemented the designers. Coming from her, he considered it exceptionally high praise.

Isabella opened her omni-tool. "Hey Raleigh, it's Izzie. Shepard and I are here. Open the door please?"

There wasn't a verbal response, but the ramp began to lower. Even with the rain keeping the soil damp it made an audible thud.

"Oh, I should warn you, there's likely to be a surprise waiting for you. Just warning you."

He walked up the ramp to see his Sonja doing negative incline push-ups off of the requisition station.

"Hey there Markie!" She said looking up, still continuing her push-ups.

"Sonja. What are you doing here?"

"It's your birthday isn't it? I wanted to join and pay tribute to my little brother."

"Kay."

"You haven't told him have you?" She said to Isabella. "How could you not tell him?"

"Tell me what."

"Mom, dad, and Amanda flew in. They've been working their asses off to set up a party for you. Izzie here was supposed to tell you so you weren't this grumpy-grouch." She said as she stood up.

"It slipped my mind." She meekly admitted.

"Well, why don't we say hi to our gracious host before trashing Deck Three!"

She hit a combination on her omni-tool opening the cargo bay door.

What Markus saw made his jaw drop. He looked back and forth between his sisters in bewilderment. He had to be dreaming! He dropped the sunglasses on the floor, the lenses falling out as they struck the cold metallic polymer.

* * *

"Tali, you gotta keep quiet." Ashley whispered. "You'll ruin the surprise."

"I know. I know."

Ashley, Joker, Tali and Garrus stood in the closed elevator waiting for the big reveal.

Isabella had kept the communication line open between them, though their side had been turned down and muted the microphone to try and keep from revealing themselves.

_"It slipped my mind."_ That was the cue for them to get ready.

_"Why don't we say hi to our gracious host before trashing Deck Three?"_

The cargo bay door opened showing themselves. Shepard's jaw dropped, looking to his sisters for an explanation.

"What Shepard," Garrus said first. "You think you're the only one who gets to come back from the dead?"

"Uh..." Shepard stammered out, not sure what to say to that.

It took Tali an eternally long moment before her body's movements followed her brain's instructions. She ran to him tearing her mask off.

She leapt up, expecting him to catch her but instead knocking him over. Not exactly as she had planned.

"T-Tali?" Her forehead rested on his for a moment, his warmth starkly contrasting the cold April air.

"It's me Mark. It's me."

"Oh my god!"

He thrust his head up to meet hers, their lips crossing over each other and re-adjusting to earn the best purchase. The salty taste of his skin was even better than she had remembered.

"I want you to know that I love you. And I always will." She said, repeating his message to her. She relocked her lips with his until oxygen became necessary.

"Hey, hey!" Garrus said coolly walking to the couple. "Save some for the rest of us."

"Here, think you'll be needing this." He handed her mask back to Tali.

She hurriedly put it back.

"Told ya so! Now pay up." Isabella said looking to Sonja.

"Fine. Fine." She handed a small handful of credits over to her younger sister.

The crew meanwhile were giving him extremely tight embraces.

"Wait, how did... How did you all get back?"

"Well when the Crucible went off we got thrown to the far side of the galaxy as the relays exploded. Don't ask us how, but half of EDI's systems were crippled." Ashley said.

Garrus picked up from there"We had a memorial service for those we lost. Tali refused to put your name on the wall."

"We had pretty much accepted our fate until that message came in. When it did, the purple princess here worked day and night to get us back in the air." Joker said beaming at the engineer who was tucking herself under Shepard's arm to cuddle with him once more.

His warm body filling her already bursting stomach with more butterflies.

"Happy birthday Markus!" Isabella proudly proclaimed.

"Come on. We've got a cake for you up on Deck Three."

"Just a moment. I'd like to speak with my brother alone." Isabella said.

Tali at her, eyes watering. She didn't want to be away from him for a second.

"I'll have him back to you before you know it; don't worry."

"It's okay Tali." He kissed the metallic plate over her cheek. "I'll only be a moment."

They held hands, fingers intertwined until the last possible moment as the door closed.

* * *

Isabella kept her hands over Mark's eyes as he rounded the elevator on the Crew Deck.

"Okay, open up." As she moved her hands away.

He slowly opened his eyes to see the entire crew gathered along with his parents and Amanda. "SURPRISE!" They all hollered at the top of their voices.

A large banner had been strung across the top of the walls. 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY COMMANDER SHEPARD' inscribed on it.

"Here you go son." His dad and mother approached with a massive cake. 'Welcome home' inscribed in cursive with red icing.

Tali meanwhile had already scooted back next to him.

"Well, blow out the candles sweetie! You know how this works!"

"I don't need to wish for anything he said." His already ear to ear grin managed to stretch a few centimeters wider. "I've got everything I could want."

"Well then blow the candles out!" She said. "I want to know if we got it right."

"First incision is yours Loco." James said handing him a knife.

He cut a corner of it, looking at the color on the inside. He trusted her, but the fact that quarians and humans couldn't eat the same food made him a little nervous.

The neutral light yellow color didn't provide him any information as to the potential flavor. Tentatively eating the slice he easily identified the flavor.

"Uber-berry blaster?!" He hadn't had it since he was six years old.

"You told me once it was your favorite." Tali said with pride. "Your sister had the recipe so we baked it up."

"Before this all gets completely out of hand, there's just one thing."

He let Tali out from under his arm, getting down on one knee pulling out a little white felt covered box. "Tali'Zorah vas Normandy nar Rayya..."

* * *

Two minutes earlier

"First off," Isabella slapped Markus across the face. "That's for asking Ashley to throw your wedding ring out the garbage disposal! What the hell were you thinking!?"

"I didn't think-"

"Damn right you didn't!"

"Let me finish! When I sent that, I was loosing hope that they were alive. Anybody still alive had called in. More than four months Izzie. I... I didn't want her to find it if they couldn't get back."

Isabella kept her glare at him but understood his reasoning. "That's what she said you told her. Still an asshole thing to do."

"Me?! How about you! You knew they were alive and didn't tell me! You even asked them to keep quiet!? What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"I needed to see your expression." She replied coldly.

"What, me in pain? You wanted to see me suffering so you can play hero?"

"No. I wanted to see you and Tali get back together to make sure you hadn't moved on. As I recall you did have that habit."

"Now whose full of bullshit?"

"Now who needs to wait before the other finishes?"

"Give me your hand."

"Why?"

The elevator chimed opening up, the rest of the party now on Deck Three preparing for the upcoming surprise party.

"Just do it." She said grabbing his right hand. She'd have gone for his left, much more natural for her but its metallic nature and small frame didn't make it her first choice. She slid a small box covered in some form of soft fabric into his hand closing his fingers around it as she retracted hers. He hit the door controls with his free hand in the mean time.

"What is this?"

"Open it you dunce."

He opened the small box and fell against the back wall. "This is..."

"I stopped off before picking up Amanda. Don't worry, I cleared it with her first. She's okay with it."

A sympathetic smile returned to her face. "I think this'll make the absolute best birthday in history, ever. Don't you?"

"You really _are_ insane Izzie." She gave him the Shepard family ring, worn by at least thirty generations of Shepard women. Each time it was passed to another generation the previous wearer would add a small gemstone to it. At present, most of the gems added were color changing sapphires.

* * *

"Tali'Zorah vas Normandy nar Rayya, will you marry me?" He opened the white felt box revealing their family's wedding ring.

"I-I..." Her mind had gone completely blank, the partygoers silent in awe. She had wanted to betroth him but wasn't sure he felt the same way and worried about what happened if she brought it up.

"You're supposed to say 'yes' Tali." Isabella eventually spoke up from the crowd.

Tali's brain reconnected. "Yes." She kept repeating as jumped him knocking them to the floor yet again, tearing her mask off to kiss him once more.

"Hey come on you two." Hanna said. "There are children here."

Markus moved his head to the side to look at her mother while Tali continued on his neck and cheek. "What are you talking about?"

Hanna simply pointed to Joker with a 'who else did you think we were talking about' look.

"Yeah, hold on." His fingers felt around for the treasured box. He took the ring out, slipping it onto her far left finger.

"Well then," Shepard proclaimed standing back up. "Looks like we _really_ have something to celebrate!" He hadn't ever seen the point in celebrating his birthday. Space travel made it rather inconvenient practice to continue. A couple of months on one planet could be two years on another.

"Oh just shut up and let us celebrate you birthday for once!"

* * *

"Oh my god." Joker groaned out as the party was wrapping up. "I don't think I can eat another bite of cake."

"Would you prefer some haggis?" EDI joked with him. "As I understand it we have plenty left."

"OI!" Donnelly yelled out from across the room at the apparent insult to his country's trademark dish.

The birthday celebrations lasted approximately four hours, only to be immediately followed with a celebration on the upcoming nuptials between Tali and Shepard. The second had lasted another six hours with everyone having a hard time staying on their feet near the end.

"Come on," Tali said dragging Shepard back up off the floor. It hadn't taken long for them to realize that using only the dining area wasn't enough. The party had quickly expanded to the port side lounge which had been restocked and eventually into Ashley and James' quarters on the starboard side.

"Oh come on! I was comfy there." He had been talking with Garrus and Amanda, the latter two apparently hitting it off quite well.

"I know somewhere else comfy. And not so crowded."

It took him less than a second to snap his head back. "HeyguysIthinkI'mgonnaturnin. It'skindalatesoI'llseeyouinthemorning. Night!" He said; mouth running a mile a second.

They rode the elevator back up. He longed so bad to get to that bed.

Tali leapt back up onto him, this time though he was ready for her. He caught her as her legs straddled him, while his hands supported the lower portions of her tight body as the elevator slowly rose up.

"I uh, while you- we were gone. I didn't..." Tali drifted off though her eagerness was enough to tell him. Neither took the opportunity to relieve themselves in the last seven months.

When the door opened Tali tried climbing off but Markus' grip on her rear tightened saying 'you're not going anywhere'.

Tali started discarding her belts, throwing them every which way as he walked them both through the room.

He leaned over the bed as she fell back, undoing her suit seals revealing her chest to him.

"Keelah, I missed you so much." She moaned as he gently stroked her breasts with his 'good' hand.

As she was undoing his belt, he suddenly pulled away.

"What's wrong?" She was worried. He had been cautious initiating but once he knew she wanted to, he didn't hold himself back.

"It's..." The nightmares he had during the year had resurfaced. They had affected his feelings, making him feel hopeless and responsible for what might have happened to her, but the images had always faded away when he woke. This just wasn't fair!

"While you... I..."

"Please, don't do this to me." The horror of what his subconscious mind had done rose back to the foreground of his mind. The dream where he beat and then murdered her horribly in their bed.

"Not now..." She continued.

"It-It's... not that." It was just a couple of dreams! Dammit why now!? What was making it worse is he couldn't tell her, causing her to start assuming the worst.

He collapsed on the couch. He eventually conceded.

"I'm sorry. I can't. At least not tonight."

"Why not?" She tried sitting with him, her suit still open. But he kept adjusting himself to put at least a little distance between them.

"Markus, what's wrong?"

"It's not you." Tears were welling up in his eyes. It shouldn't be this difficult!

"Then tell me. I can't help you if you don't."

"I... I killed you. Every night."

"What?"

"Every night, when I went to sleep. No matter what I did, you died. It was always my fault. I-" He stumbled on the next part. "I even did it a couple of times. I just don't want to hurt you."

"Hey, you see this?" She pointed to the faint scar running along her jawline. Her own voice breaking as she told him how badly she had been hurting.

"I was so convinced you were dead. I was sure you were dead and wanted to be with you so badly." The tears were falling down her pale face now.

"Oh my god, baby." He tried hugging her only for her to hold him back.

"Wait." She pleaded, voice still shaky.

"It's done. It's over with. All of it." Some of her confidence was starting to come back.

"We don't need to keep punishing ourselves for hurting." What she was saying was a little shocking. She had always leaned on him for support, now here he was looking to her for strength. _'I guess this makes us a real couple now.'_

"Now you can either keep wallowing or you can mount me." He couldn't contain his laughter at how forward she was being.

"You're right." He couldn't argue with her.

"Of course I am. You told me the same thing. Well, not literally."

"I know. But, I'm still a little worried."

"I think I can wait one more night. But you'll owe me extra in the morning. Now come to bed with me."

The newly engaged couple crawled back into bed. Tali though continued disrobing.

"Uh, what are you doing?" She had pushed her ample rear up against his pelvis.

"I feel more comfortable this way." He could have debated it, but it felt good to be lying next to her like this again even if they weren't doing anything.

"Good night Tali."

"Good night Markus."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Quiet Agenda

April 12, 2187

It was the first good night's sleep Shepard had gotten in months.

Unfortunately for him, a pair of messages from his omni-tool woke him up at some ungodly hour of the morning. He tried pulling his arm up over his face to see who it was but the limb wouldn't respond. It was not only tingling, but heavy. Looking over to see the cause he saw his new fiancées head resting on it.

The communication's vibration had given a little feeling back, but was also running the risk of waking her up. But he'd need to get his arm out in any case.

Rolling over he hit the mute button silencing the message notification. He then started slowly slipping his arm out from under her head. He didn't want to wake her, especially with how peaceful and cute Tali looked when she was sleeping, her pale skin glowing against the cabin's evening lighting. He took a moment to admire her while she slept. Not long, just enough for his heart to flutter for a moment.

_'I am so damned lucky'_ He thought before he accessed the omni-tool. Sitting at his desk he didn't want to disturb Tali if it was an communique.

Both were text messages; one from Admiral Hackett.

_[To: Rear Admiral M. Shepard, _SSV Normandy

_From: Fleet Admiral S. Hackett,__Alliance Fleet Command_

_Due to the early hour this message will be sent as a text. I am requesting you and the other senior members of the Alliance to join me onboard the _SSV Everest _by 0700_._ You are not to discuss the specifics of the meeting until _after_ a public announcement has been made._

_The Council is also demanding you 'explain' your actions with the Crucible activation. If their actions to date are any indicator they'll be expecting an apology._

_Shepard, in light of the _Normandy_'s return I am withdrawing your orders to select a new ship to serve as your flag.]_

Looking at his orange holo-clock, it showed it was 0622. Barely half an hour until he met them. And the time stamp on it was nearly an hour old.

_'Better check the second.'_ He thought to himself. This one was from his mother and had a little more of an explanation.

_[Sorry about this Mark. Looks like we're back on the clock. Little pointer, if it's ALLHIGHCOM] A_ common term for Alliance High Command.

_[then you'd better put on your class A blues. I'd also suggest a shave, but I don't think you'll have time. See you in the shuttle bay. I've got a pot of coffee in the shuttle bay for us for the ride up.]_ Class A's were the most formal variant of a soldier's dress blue uniform. Every medal and ribbon was included, shoes polished to the point they could be used as a signal light. Either it was typical mom action of 'dress up nice on your first day honey' or and this was the more likely, something big was going where the pomp and circumstance was required.

"Mark?" Tali groggily asked. He had woken her up, either from the light, moving his arm or some combination of the two.

"What are you doing up?" Her tone indicated that she was still mostly asleep and had no intention of changing that.

"Got some work I have to do. I'll be back in a few hours. Go back to sleep."

"Okay." She put her head back on the pillow and immediately fell back asleep.

Walking back to the bed, he opened the middle shelving unit where he kept his nicer clothes. One set official military functions, the other for when he was off duty. Not surprisingly, he only had one such civilian suit: the one he used for the casino infiltration when his psychotic clone tried to take over his life.

Shepard quickly wiped off the dust on his bone-white Naval dress uniform. Taking the jacket, pants and shoes into the bathroom (along with a white t-shirt to wear underneath) to get quickly dressed. When he stepped out he removed the ribbons and medals from a compartment next to where the uniform was stored. Over the years, he had collected more than his fair share of them doing, in his own opinion, "What needed to be done. Nothing more, nothing less".

Among the medals, was the one he earned from ICT known as the "7 Elite" (as the ribbons' design changed based on the focus of training). The N7 ribbon was black and gold with a horizontal narrow red line for completing the engineering training. Various others he had previously and since earned were the Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC for short), the Navy Cross, the Legion of Merit, Medals of Heroism and Valor, the Covert Action award was secretly given to him by Hackett after the events in batarian space shortly before the Reaper War began. He had also earned a multiple Purple Hearts over the last fifteen years of service (four to be specific), though only one was permitted to be worn.

Pinning the ribbons on the right breast above his dark blue name plate, white letters etched into it. The decorative medals were pinned to his right breast. The combined weight tugged his uniform down quite a bit.

He gave Tali a quick, light kiss on the cheek before stepping into the elevator. _'What the hell kind of meeting has to be held this early in the morning?'_ He thought as the elevator descended to the cargo bay.

When it opened he saw a _very_ large steaming cup sitting on top of the requisitions terminal along with a datapad. Someone had brought a new shuttle, already fired up and waiting for him. Picking up the pad and activating it, two words popped up for several seconds 'READ ME' in flashing red-orange letters. Whoever left it there meant for him to read it. He picked up the coffee cup and stepped onto the shuttle.

"Took you long enough Markus." A female voice said coming from the cockpit. It took a full minute before it consciously connected that it was his mother, who was likewise in her white dress A uniform.

"I've already gotten clearance from EDI." She said as the shuttle door opened. "The pad has a list of the admirals and generals you'll be meeting along with the branches they belong to. Coffee is to help wake you up."

"Oh _thank you_." He pitched the mug back and began chugging. It took him a moment before the rancid taste got to him, spitting it back out.

"What the hell?! I haven't tasted coffee that bad since-" He started putting the flavors together, hoping that the coffee wasn't what he thought it was.

"The Shepard Sunrise Surprise? Yup." The shuttle had taken off and was already clearing the troposphere.

"Dear god! It's even worse than I remember!"

"I've made a few... alterations to the recipe." He didn't need to see her face to see the coy grin all over her face.

"Pretty sure making this stuff goes against the Geneva convention _and_ the Citadel sanctions."

"You volunteered. Now read the pad! Can't go in there with my son looking like an unprepared idiot."

Slowly sipping the coffee down, trying to get used to its taste again as he read over the names on the pad. The first time he had a Shepard's Sunrise Surprise, or 'Triple S' for short, he was fourteen. His mother made it as a deterrent against developing a caffeine addiction. It took him nearly a year the first time to get used to it. After that, it was a point of pride that he could drink what even the most voracious drinkers called "a foul, disgusting mess of varren piss".

**[line across page]**

Steven Hackett stood outside of conference room six on deck twenty-two of the _Everest_. He had taken command of the vessel when it first launched out of the shipyards over Io and remained its commander for almost a decade. The faces of the crew had changed several times, but he could still remember nearly every name with only minor focus. The _Everest _was his first 'real' command, and as the first of her class he thought it deserved the remembrance of those who sweat and bleed for it before anyone else.

He had hoped to speak with Shepard beforehand, prepare him a bit for the job he was going to be given. In his typical grand style though, Shepard found a suitable balance between showing up on time and at the exact moment he was needed.

_'At least he's awake.'_ Hackett thought to himself as he and his mother walked up to him.

They both saluted him. Something that was done more out of a formality. Technically, flag officers didn't need to salute, but it was still sometimes maintained as a courtesy or between those whom still thought the senior officer deserved to be recognized with the respect their rank had earned.

"Admirals Shepard reporting as ordered sir." Rear Admiral Shepard said "I apologize for our tardiness. I had some issues with my uniform."

They weren't more than ten minutes late. Most likely they just stopped for a cup of coffee, but it didn't bother him. The decision had been made quickly and was all but unanimous by all the members of the Alliance leaders, so a few minutes didn't hurt. Much.

"At ease." Hackett saluted them back. "Since you two are the last to arrive we can get started right away. I want this done before someone on the ship accidentally leaks to the press."

Pressing the controls on the green-lit holographic console the door slid open with a quiet hiss revealing nearly three dozen officers all of whom had white, silver hair, or were simply bald. The number of attachés was quite remarkable as they outnumbered the flag officers between two and three to one. All of them though wore dress A uniforms. Navy on one side with white jackets, Marines on the other with black.

"Take your seats Shepards." Hackett said as he moved to his own chair on the Kingwood able cut into a ring. It was a bit of a luxury, but he had found it useful for briefings like this.

When the mother and son sat down Hackett officially began the briefing.

"As you're all aware, when the Crucible was activated the mass relay network self-destructed along with every Reaper and husk in the galaxy." A hologram of the galaxy appeared in the center, orange dots representing the relays with strands intertwining representing the relay paths being severed in a cascading pattern. The system clusters associated with them grew dark as the orange lights blinked out.

"With the geth leading the efforts we've been able to reconnect much of the network." The now connected areas returned back to the normal color, though a fair portion of asari space in the "western side" of the galaxy remained dark.

"Since the homeworlds of all of the Council members are now reconnected the Council has begun hearings for adding new members to their numbers. The krogan have already sent the name of their representative along with the volus. Until now, they were satisfied with various members of the board. But now they're pushing us for a formal representative. The board has already decided to elect Rear Admiral Markus Shepard of the _SSV Normandy_ to be humanity's next representative."

If he wasn't listening before, he certainly was now.

"Okay, this is a joke right?" The young admiral said from the opposite side of the table. If his eyebrows had gone any higher they would have started to merge with his shaggy, unkempt hair. "Yanking the chain of the new guy? Right?" The hopeful desperation in his voice told them he thought this was a form of an initiation prank.

"No. You've had the most experience with the Council Shepard and aside from the late Admiral Anderson, you've been the most successful in dealing with them."

"This is... the _worst_ idea I've heard in a long time, and if any of you knew my crew you'd know just how bad of an idea this is."

"What's the matter?" Admiral Najem of Alliance R&amp;D spoke up first. "Afraid to deal with something that isn't part of your omni-tool?" Najem's jealousy sometimes got the better of his brain-to-mouth filter. He had wanted the position as he was planning to retire before the war. When the Reapers hit, he declared it was his 'civic duty' to remain. He had done so very publicly while announcing the new modifications to the omni-tools allowing for variable omni-blades.

"Cool off Fadil." Major General Ewan Argyris interjected on Shepard's behalf. Argyris was head of nearly a legion of M35 Mako and M44 Hammerhead tanks. He maintained that the turians had an excellent military strategy: hit the enemy with overwhelming force. Despite this, he was cautious on his assaults as even the slightest error meant at best, the loss of an entire squad of soldiers and a gap in the charging force's perimeter defenses.

"Gentlemen please," Hanna said standing up with a mother's tone. One that said 'knock it off before I start knocking heads'. "I'm quite sure that there's a reason for this decision."

"What's the matter?" Najem turned his annoyance on Hanna now. "The boy can't speak for himself?"

"HEY!" Shepard shot back. "I was trying to find a way to politely say 'no' but now, I don't give a damn. Thanks to you."

Several of the board members rubbed the bridge of their nose and eyes. While they had, for the most part, all agreed to the choice of the young admiral for the Council select members had concerns about his tact.

"I'm going to be honest here, selecting me for diplomatic functions is not a wise decision. I'm honored, don't get me wrong, but I'm a combat engineer. I fix things while other things around me explode. That's what I do, it's what I'm best at. Put me in with Fleet Construction, hell even a teaching position at one of the academies. The Council and I barely see eye-to-eye on, well, anything."

"Most politicians don't get along with each other." One of the other Naval officers defended.

"Most politicians don't tell each other to get stuffed openly and on a regular basis." The entire board immediately regretted the decision to choose Shepard.

"Look, I don't deny that I don't handle them with the proper... spit and polish they demand. But I think I have a recommendation for a suitable replacement."

Najem scoffed at Shepard nominating a replacement. "Let me guess, you're going to pick someone close to you? I've read your reports. You nominated your former CO to be the first human Councilor, replaced the Chief Engineer of the SR-2 with an alien. Now what? If you're going to pick someone, it had better be based on merit."

"It _is_." Shepard shot back. "My recommendation is for governor Radomir Krall from Eden Prime." Krall was, at the outbreak of the Reaper war, was an aid to governor Arron Cox. Krall became one of the heads of Eden Prime's resistance movement against Cerberus. When Cerberus hit Cox had fallen apart. While Krall had technically usurped power, she had done so getting food, water and medical supplies to the scattering colonists. The colonists hailed her as a hero. Once the crisis had passed he confessed what she did. Serving two months for 'abuse of office' in a jail cell then was elected in a landslide election.

"He's smart, fast on his feet, first thought is those around him and knows the political game but doesn't have any goals of his own. Perfect candidate. That or he's a complete sociopath. Last civilian we elected was." He was referring of course, to Udina. During the attempted coup with Cerberus to gain control of the Citadel Udina drew a gun on Shepard. It was the last time he and Shepard were on opposite sides.

"She has had no major political experience, barely months of what she has done and only on one world." This time the aggressor was Admiral Gagnon, head of the ICT's naval candidates and students. His French accent was somewhat thick as he spoke English for the general benefit of all members of the board (most of whom grew up speaking English as a first language).

Markus leaned to his mother whispering to her. "Is it always like this?"

"Pretty much, yeah." She answered back. "Raising four kids seems to have been the perfect practice for this."

In the less than five second conversation between the Shepards, the entire room had devolved into a shouting match.

Shepard tried a couple of times to interject himself, try and get the commanders back on track but nothing worked. He had it. Barely any sleep and spending his first full day back on the _Normandy_ wasn't being spent with Joker, Garrus, or especially Tali. He had enough; raising his metal hand into the air he fired off a quick incendiary shot into the ceiling of the room. It got the attention of everyone in the room. Hackett though was staring at him with angry steel-gray eyes. Shepard made a note to apologize and paint over the scorch mark.

"Look at yourselves!" He hollered at the squabbling leaders. "You are supposed to be the best military leaders in humanity! If I didn't know better, I'd say there's nothing more than a bunch of third graders in here! So here is what we're going to do. You're going to write down your top three nominations for human Councilor with a decreasing number from 3 from your first choice to last. Send them to me, I'll get back to you later today with the final tally."

The officers keyed up their omni-tools and began typing; a flurry of messages came into Shepard's omni-tool. When each of them finished they stood up and walked out of the conference room without another word. Admiral Sato of the Sixth fleet stopped by Shepard's chair as she walked out.

"Nice touch." She said, and continued on her way. Her voice was sincere and there was a slight indication of a smile running up the left side of her lips.

In the end only Hanna, and Hackett remained and he hadn't moved a muscle since Shepard let loose.

"Hanna, I'll need a moment alone with your son." His voice was barely containing his anger.

"I have to get back to the Orizaba. I'll let you know when I have some free time." She said and left, one last message pinging on his omni-tool. By this point it had reached almost three dozen.

The door closed behind Hanna leaving the two men in silence for a few seconds. Hackett regaining his composure, Shepard awaiting the inevitable chastising, and possibly dismissal from the Alliance. What he had done, while effective, was all forms of stupid and they both knew it. Shepard became the youngest admiral in Alliance history, was one for less than a month, and he just yelled out the officers who held command over _every_ posting in humanity's military.

After a minute of silence between the two of them before Hackett spoke.

"Not your best decision Shepard."

"Yes sir, sorry sir. And as for the ceiling, I'll repair it down to the paint sir."

"No need Shepard. They've been slowly sliding towards that since the relays blew. Looks like a lot of the pre-war issues are coming back to the surface."

"I guess we shouldn't be that surprised."

"No. But I happened to agree with you. You're a hell of a soldier. According to Anderson you're the best soldier he's ever seen. I've never known anyone he recommended that highly or as often."

"So you're not ticked?"

"Ultimately, I have final choice for who is nominated. You were the first choice for nearly everyone in this room. If the civilian populace had their way, they'd likely make you prime minister of the galaxy."

"So why did you really bring me in? You could have simply ordered me to report."

"Because I knew you'd turn it down. And ultimately, I am abiding by your decision."

"Sir?"

"Your entire career you've demonstrated exceptional judgment. Anderson trusted you implicitly. As do I. I only required the evidence to bring to Parliament and the commanders."

"So Krall is going to be the next Councilor?" Shepard asked.

"I'll notify her of our recommendation. She's free to pass it up, but I don't think she'll say no."

"Not her style. She won't lobby to keep it in the next election but she won't turn it down either. She'll work her ass off but she goes where the political winds take her. Impressive woman. We could have used a lot more like her. Will that be all?" He was wanting to get back to Tali. If he hurried, he might be able to make her a brunch. Then promptly try to make up for the lack of physical intimacy last night.

"Aside from the meeting with the Council. You forgot didn't you?"

It had completely escaped his mind. "Yes sir."

"I'll be delivering the results of our meeting to them. I'll also remain while you give your report to them. Given what happened..."

"Probably a good idea."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

S.S.D.D:B.B.

The Council had made a "formal request" to the Alliance that they speak with Shepard. In their chambers no less. Shepard wasn't sure why they chose this location. Work on the Citadel had only gone as far as clearing the dead and searching for any potential Reaper troops left. No official work had gone into making repairs. It was something of a sore spot for the Alliance and the rest of humanity as so many of their people had died on it.

Even the most stable sections had spotty power at best: lights flickering, AG fields operating at only 10% Earth-standard and the basic layout had become a disturbing maze of dead-ends and accidental double-backing corridors.

It took Shepard and Hackett more than an hour to make it from the docking ring to the base of the Presidium tower. By this point of course Shepard was fully awake. His patience however, was somewhat questionable.

When they finally found a working elevator they exchanged a look of "should we?" and "might as well". Shepard made a physical connection between his omni-tool and the destroyed control panel.

Approximately three quarters up the tower the elevator stalled out.

"Just give me like, one minute." He said when he started. It took him two and a half to get moving again, but Hackett didn't say a word.

The lift reached the Council chambers, opening to a somewhat disgusting spectacle: a flurry of surviving C-Sec officers were working to clear the rubble and rebuild the hall. "Son of a Bitch" Shepard cursed putting emphasis on the "b".

Walking forward at the fastest pace he could, more so than was recommended with the current leg he had, he marched himself up to the stairs. The area between where his leg ended and the artificial one ached more and more with each step he took. Despite the physical therapy (PT for short), it was still ached from time-to-time. Especially when he maintained a fast walking pace. Miranda had spoken with him several times about the possibility of having the surgeon take a look at it to see if they could fix the problem but he never gave her an answer.

Likewise, his artificial hand didn't allow much for twisting where the "wrist" was. Being as it was cut right on the gray zone where most people's wrist was when looking close to determine forearm and hand. During the shuttle ride over he had started considering about having a little more (no more than two inches or so) removed to try and regain full use of his hand. He'd need to replace it anyways. It still looked like metal bones with a small set of chips and wires for his omni-tool (it was at present only a basic combat model taken from one of the fallen soldiers).

As the foot stepped down on the first step of the second flight his leg collapsed, bending at the knee in a way that would have torn the ligaments apart should they have still existed. Collapsing on the stairs an asari C-Sec agent came running up to help him.

"Are you okay sir?" Her skin was a light azure with white facial markings similar to what Vasir had (though this woman's was longer and fewer in count). The non-armored clothing told him that she was likely one of those who were part of rebuilding rather than providing security in the all but abandoned station.

"I'm fine." He said pushing her hand away. He rolled over so he could get a better look at his leg. Even with it being a construct it disturbed him (and probably her) that it was bent so unnaturally. He'd definitely want to get a better replacement for that too. Maybe the geth could set him up with something.

"Are you sure you're okay? That leg looks pretty bad. I could get a technician-"

"I'm a combat engineer. Trust me. It's fine." He said. It was nice that she cared, but her services would be better spent on one of the hundred or so planets that was still struggling to rebuild. How the hell could the Council even think about putting resources into getting the Citadel up and running first?

Snapping the leg back Shepard grunted as the receptors at the end of his leg received signals from the leg. It wasn't pain per se, but it was definitely uncomfortable as all hell.

He flexed the ankle and knee joint, checking for any further signs of damage. None noticeable but if there was a software hiccup it would likely come out when he put some weight on it. The foot, assuming one could call it that as it looked more like a very flat shoe, had no issues. Neither did the knee joint. Without running a full check (which was not a function his omni-tool had) it would be impossible to tell if it would support his weight.

"I could use a hand up though." He extended his right arm out. She grabbed his hand behind the wrist allowing for a stronger grip.

"Thanks." He said as he was pulled up keeping the weight, momentarily off his right leg.

By this point Hackett had caught up. The older admiral had kept a slower pace wanting to get a good look at what was going on in the chambers.

Shepard slowly put his full weight on his leg. "Looks like I'm good." No sooner than he got the words out, the leg collapsed again. Soon as they were done he needed to take a close look at the leg.

"I'm going to need a hand the rest of the way sir." He said to Hackett.

"I've got you Commander." The asari said pulling him back up again. Shepard though gave a confused look at her. As far as he knew they'd never met before.

"You're shocked? You saved the Citadel three and a half years ago, then the galaxy only a few months ago. Everyone knows who you are. _Everyone._" She meant it as a complement, but the way she said "everyone" unnerved him slightly; the fight with the indoctrinated civilian in the café was brought to mind. Though he didn't let any of the worry show. If someone was going to try and take him out, this would be the time to do it.

"I'm technically off-duty. Can I escort you anywhere? Most of the Citadel is still a wreck but the Council is looking to deputize some more forces, bring it back to its glory."

"We'll be fine, thank you." Hackett said wrapping Shepard's arm over his own shoulder.

"Didn't want her near us while we talked?" Shepard asked after they were half way up the second tier of the chambers.

"That's one way of putting it."

They proceeded the rest of the way to the final tier where the Council was already presiding at their podiums. Shepard couldn't tell though whether he was more angry or surprised. The turian, asari and salarian councilors were the exact same as usual: Sparatus, Tevos and Valern respectively.

"It's about time you arrived Shepard." Sparatus said. Just when it was finally looking like he might not be a complete prick. The two got along about as well as Shepard had gotten along with Udina on any given day.

"My apologies that the problems with my faux leg," He said patting it. His voice was drenched in sarcasm. "Inconvenienced you."

"Please, shall we not start this again?" Valern spoke up before the two could start trading actual barbs.

"Yes." Sparatus agreed. "We've called you here so you can explain your actions Commander."

"Two things. One, I'm an admiral now. Two, I believe the Alliance would have already sent you a copy of the reports yes?" He turned to Hackett for confirmation.

"Yes, we are aware of the apparent "decisions" this AI presented you."

"Vysrat se na!" Growing up moving from ship to ship in a multinational group like the Alliance, spacers tended to be fluent in multiple languages (though most of what they picked up was how to swear or otherwise insult someone).

"Kakogo cherta s toboy?" When he became furious Shepard would sometimes mix the languages together. It wasn't an unheard of for those who were bi-lingual.

"Shepard," Hackett whispered to him. "You might want to watch your tongue."

One lucky thing, is that most aliens didn't have a translator for most Earth languages. English, or "common" as it was referred to, was the only one that could fit with the translations. It also worked like this for each of the other races. To count every language used by all the races the number would reach well over 150. The memory to hold every language and be able to translate them would require a computer able to calculate more than two hundred megabytes per millisecond.

"Tens of thousands died because of your actions Shepard. We're giving you a chance to explain yourself."

"Oh you want to play the numbers blame game? Is that what you want?!" No matter what he did, the Council seemed content to find fault in every action he made. The destruction of the ruins when he first met Liara (which would have more than likely happened one way or another), the use of an improvised nuclear device on Vermire (despite the fact that it was the STG team the Council sent that came up with the plan _and_ made the bomb), the list just kept going.

"We are not looking assign blame Shepard. We simply want to know _why_ you felt this was the best decision." Tevos had a way of speaking down to him that few others could even come close to. Not even the most vulgar and ruthless drill instructor could piss him off like she could.

"Bullshit you're not! If you want to put the blame for any of the deaths over the last year, no, the last _two_ years because of the Reapers you only have to look in the mirror. I tried to warn you since the attack on Eden Prime by Saren. If you had listened, started to actually prepare, then who knows how many would be alive right now.

"And I'd also like to note, that while nearly _every_ world is clearing dead bodies and trying to make enough food for their people, you decide to start focusing your efforts on rebuilding this million year old monument of death! It's also good to see that you managed to save your skins while so many others here died."

"Shepard-" Hackett tried to politely stop his rant.

"No! Not this time sir. Now I have had it with this bureaucratic bullshit that these blind MORONS have been spewing out. We ask for help as tens of thousands die by geth hands, and they say that there's nothing they can do. Two years later, hundreds of thousands are being abducted and they sing the same tune. And finally, our people are dying now by the _millions_ and you're asking us for _help_ or just sitting on the sidelines protecting your own crumbling borders."

"Shepard," Valern said with a warning tone. "If you continue we will have no choice but to permanently revoke your Spectre status."

That's when Hackett stepped in as a mediator, but he was obviously standing with Shepard emotionally. "If you'll excuse me, I don't believe that it would be wise as the first official act of this Council to remove Shepard from the Spectre ranks. I personally know of twenty reporters off the top of my head who would kill for an exclusive like this. When word got out, I imagine that there'd be a general riot that the Hero of the Galaxy was thrown out for saving it."

The trio stepped back discussing with each other for a minute before coming to a decision on Hackett's subtle blackmail.

Tevos, as usual was the one to give their final verdict. "We have decided, that a formal meeting with all Council members will be held to discuss the issue of Shepard's continuing service with the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch. This concludes the meeting." The moment she finished they all immediately left. They had decided to keep Shepard with the Spectres, for now at least, to save what little political face they had.

"Really glad you didn't order me to join the stuffed shirts." Shepard said after a few minutes.

He looked down to see his left hand stuck in a clenched fist. After trying to open it a few times to which nothing happened, he used his other to individually pry them. It hurt like hell trying to open them one by one, but it looked at least a little more natural this way. He'd definitely need to have them _both_ looked at when they were done.

"So am I." Hackett replied.

The white haired, battle scarred admiral helped Shepard back to the elevator to head down to the docking bay. While en route Shepard sent a message to the _Normandy_ requesting a shuttle pick him up.

When the elevator finally reached the docks they found both shuttles waiting to take the admirals back to their respective ships.

"Before you go Shepard, you're being put on temporary leave for the next three weeks. Spend it however you wish. And there's this." He handed Shepard a datapad.

"Consider it a gift from the Alliance." It contained an encrypted lock on it. Whatever it was, it was sensitive enough to warrant at least mild paranoia.

"Dismissed Shepard." The shaggy haired blonde saluted his superior, the latter returning a quick salute before stepping onto his shuttle closing the door behind him.

Shepard set the pad down with his good hand when he got on his shuttle. "Take us back to the barn, spare the horses." He told the pilot. Whatever was on the datapad could wait until he could use his limbs again.

"Always have sir." Cortez's voice emanated from the cockpit.

"Also call ahead, have EDI and Chakwas waiting in medbay. Don't let them alert Tali though. I don't want her to worry."

* * *

**ABLE/NOVEMBER:**

_So there's a little bit of translating that needs to be done. Here ya go._

_The title, S.S.D.D:B.B is an addition to the traditional SSDD (same shit different day): bureaucratic bullshit._

*Vysrat se na - translates as "fuck" in Czech

** Kakogo charta s toboy" - translates as "what the hell is with you" in Russian


	13. Chapter 13

**ABLE/NOVEMBER:**

_The update today (the 26th on my calendar) is a few corrective updates I overlooked going from DocX to posting._

_Sorry for getting your hopes up. But don't fret, you'll have a new set of ~2k words for this story within a few days_

* * *

Chapter 13

Family Breakfast

Tali awoke midway through the morning, somewhere around 8:30 or 9, but the bed wasn't as warm as she was expecting. The heat from Mark's body was absent. It took her a moment for her to realize that Shepard wasn't laying next to her.

"EDI, where's Shepard?" Part of her was afraid she had dreamed yesterday.

"_There was a meeting he had to go to with Admiral Hanna Shepard. He left several hours ago."_

"Okay. Thank you." She got out of bed, putting on her environmental suit. It felt good, no, wonderful to share the bed with Shepard again. But it also felt good to put her suit back on.

She left the cabin, looking to get some breakfast. Despite the large amount of food she consumed the previous night she was oddly famished. _'Maybe some turian oatmeal. With dried nuts and cinnamon... then again, there was quite a bit of leftovers.'_ Her stomach soured a little at that particular though. _'No. I think I'll stick with the oatmeal.'_

She left the still slightly dimmed room. EDI had been polite enough to ease the lights up slowly. She still had a hangover, though it was only mild. Especially when compared to the suffering she felt the morning after the Citadel party. She pressed the button on the elevator to summon it.

When the door to the crew deck opened she found Amanda Shepard standing there with a tray of food. The middle of the Shepard women was shorter than the rest of her siblings, but still quite tall standing at five and half feet. Her strawberry blonde hair rested just below her shoulders. Her deep hazel eyes were startled to see Tali.

"Oh, well that's convenient. I wanted to have breakfast with you." Amanda said. "We didn't really have much chance last night."

"Sure." Tali agreed.

They sat down at the table in the mess hall. Amanda handed Tali a bowl of dextro-based oatmeal. But the coloring was different; there were blue and orange-brown swirls and patches. "What is this?"

"Oatmeal. It's also got some spices and fruit in it. Don't know if it tastes any good so go ahead and get some more if its crap." Her voice told Tali that she wouldn't feel if she spat the food back out.

She nervously took a small spoonful's worth. It passed the toxin scanner with no issues as it entered her helmet. It was good. The flavor was particularly strong, but it was good.

"Heya little sis." A woman behind Tali spoke. Turning she saw Sonja, Markus' eldest sister. Her vibrant red hair was pulled back into a short sporty ponytail.

Sonja moved into the kitchenette where she began rummaging through the leftovers from the previous night's festivities. She eventually stopped on the plate of five-layered lasagna. It was dripping with cheese, chalked full of meat and a few assorted vegetables. She then started working on a pot of coffee though she started throwing some strange things in it with the coffee grounds. "Makin' some triple S. Want some Mandy?"

Amanda thought it over for a minute before responding. "Yeah I'll take a cup or two of the devil's spit."

"Excuse me, what's triple S?"

"Shepard's Sunrise Surprise." Sonja answered.

"According to mom and dad, it's an old family recipe." Amanda added on. "Personally, I think it's descended from an ancient from of torture on prisoners during the last world war."

"Then why drink it?"

"Because," Sonja said. "It has strength in it as only the great gods could hold. I've seen all but wake the comatose and dead."

"It's that good."

"I wouldn't call it 'good'," Amanda said. "Effective? Most definitely. Good taste? Absolutely not! I'd rather eat liquefied dirt than drink this stuff."

"So why drink it?" Tali was trying to figure this apparently abhorrent, yet almost coveted liquid.

"Why the hell not." Sonja said as she brought two large cups to the dining table sitting on the same side as Amanda. Even from the distance though, she could smell through the old-factory ports in her suit. It was a rather pungent smell, not at all pleasant.

"So what's next for you two?" The younger Shepard asked. "Just so you know, there's a small betting pool among the crew. I'm looking for some inside information."

"We, uh, we didn't really talk about what we'll be doing last night."

"Told ya! Pay up!" The elder practically shouted at Amanda. Her hand was practically outstretched to her sister.

A disgruntled Amanda started digging through her pockets for the money that was bet. "There was also a bet between us sisters about what you two would be doing."

"I put 10 creds on you two going at it. I know what _every_ soldier who returns home from a long tour on the lines and my little brother is no different." She added a coy wink at the end.

"No, we didn't, I mean," Tali stuttered out. This was something was hard for her to openly talk about things like this to her Shepard. It made her terribly uncomfortable to talk with Garrus or Chakwas whom she trusted as implicitly. But a stranger? Even if it _was_ someone who was to be family, well that was all but impossible.

"You see we were... I mean _were_ but..."

"Oh yes!" Amanda nearly hissed sliding the coins back into her own hand.

"Knew you two would simply fall asleep." She said to Tali as Sonja now mimicking Amanda's facial expression from a moment ago.

"So what's next for you two? Staying here or are you gonna build a house somewhere? Like I said, wanted a little inside info."

"We haven't had a chance. Like I said, last night we just fell asleep. And Markus had an early meeting of some sort."

"Oh yes. I heard about some high-ranking brass meeting." Sonja said. "Figure he'll be back in an hour or so."

"It'll take that long?"

"I worked with general Hannigan in the early days of the war. He put me back in the field after two weeks. I was, according to him, 'blunt, vulgar, aggressive and exactly the kinda soldier that should be shooting on the line'. I was so damned happy to get back to the trenches."

"You like fighting?"

"No. But when there is a fight, I prefer to be in the center of it."

Tali had a slight smile. She was a lot like Markus in attitude. Not much on the face though. They eyes themselves, while holding the same almost cocky determination and and optimism, were deep dark blue but they held a few silver flecks in her eyes.

"So he did that big proposal." Sonja said, her eyes were looking at her fingers which were moving around as if there were some invisible haptics she was working on some puzzle. "Now he'll make a big show on something. I'd wager odds that he'll-"

A large commotion from the elevator cut her off.

"I don't care what you _want_. You're going under so EDI and I can work on you." The voice belonged to doctor Chakwas. But who was hurt?

"Dammit just give me a local!" Markus grumbled back to her. "I'll fix it myself. It's a damned software hiccup not a gushing artery."

His sisters and Tali jumped from the table to see what happened, make sure he was really as fine as he was indicating.

He was supported by Chakwas while EDI was running scans of his legs and working on a blueprint of some sort.

"Keelah! What happened?" Tali practically shoved Chakwas out of the way.

"Just wear and tear. These were assembled half-assed in an emergency field tent. Now it's kinda falling apart."

"That's one way of putting it." Chakwas said as she opened the door to medical. "Get him on the table and strap him down. I'm reading serious nervous system damage around the prosthetic attachment sites. You should have had this tended to weeks ago."

Chakwas pulled a needle with a small amount of a clear solution. "Doc! I said a _local_. I can fix it myself, EDI come on you know I'm right. Tell her."

"I'm sorry Shepard, but doctor Chakwas is right. As it is, I do not know if we will be able to keep from taking more of your injured extremities."

"What. Happened?" Tali repeated.

"I told you, it's no- OW! DAMN IT!" Chakwas injected the needle near the base of Shepard's spine.

"Sorry Shepard." He tried to protest, only a faint grumble of unintelligible words coming out. "Need to shut down most of your brain functions. I need everyone except EDI to get out. _Now."_

* * *

Tali hadn't stopped pacing in front of the door for several hours. Her stomach was running on empty but she didn't have any appetite. She had been told what happened, simple "issue" with how the prosthetic limbs were installed. How they were creating a slow but dangerous cumulative neural degeneration in the synthetic and organic pathways around the interface.

Garrus had joined them soon as he heard that Shepard had gone into surgery. The windows had been tinted black to prevent anyone outside from loosing their lunch. They hadn't heard a word from Chakwas since, which wasn't that unusual in and of itself, but the silence from EDI was driving everyone mad. He tried a couple of times to talk to Tali, comfort her, but she kept pacing without a word.

Finally the doors opened, Chakwas stepping out wearing a slightly bloodied surgical gown. "We're done." She said. The words had barely escaped her lips as Tali ran past her.

"He's still out cold. I gave him an extra, slow metabolizing dose of sedatives to help his body's adjustment to the new augments." Chakwas continued to Garrus, and the Shepard sisters.

"How bad?" Garrus asked. They others were afraid to ask. They'd already gone through his funeral once, then worried about what happened to him and the rest of their family after the Battle of Hell's Gauntlet for months. Now, their brother was on a table yet again after a serious injury.

"I'm not going to lie, EDI and I needed to take a little more of his arm. More so than I was thinking. The degeneration damage extended a quarter of the way up his forearm so we had to replace just behind that. At this point, nearly 30% of it is artificial but, thanks to EDI, the new one won't cause any scarring along in his nervous system."

Sonja turned around to pound the visible support beam in the mess hall with a closed, very fast moving fist. "How the hell is this good news?!" Her knuckles started to bleed from the force of the impact, small drops of blood falling to the floor.

"Good news is, I'm the best doctor in the Alliance. Anyone else would have hacked it off at the major joint for not only the arm, but the leg. I managed to keep every centimeter of the leg." It wasn't like Chakwas to boast. More than likely, what had been done was damned impressive even with the near minor miracles she performed.

"He should have full functionality after only a week of physical therapy." EDI said. She had been fairly silent, preferring to let Chakwas explain to the family. It was part of her job. One she didn't particularly like, but it was a part of it.

"But the best thing for him right now is rest, like I said, let the man rest. I'll notify you if there's a change in his condition."


	14. Chapter 14

_Face to face, out in the heat_

_Hanging tough, staying hungry_

_They stack the odds still we take to the street_

_For the kill with the skill to survive_

Chapter 14

In Matters of Pride

April 22, 2187

The _Normandy _and the _White Raven_ landed near one of the beaches on Rannoch's southern continent. The place had been selected by Tali and Shepard. Isabella had returned to her ship that Markus had hired to deliver the materials he purchased from several of the shipyard's scrap pile from Earth.

The sun was starting to rise, at least Shepard was thinking it was rising, as the _Normandy_'s cargo bay door descended. He and Tali were eager to pick where specifically start building their house. The place they had selected was about four miles from Rayya City. The larger cities were being built from the liveships in the quarian fleet.

But as he looked out on the grassy plain another thought came over Shepard. And given the hot Tikkun sun, he'd need to implement it quickly. He sent a message to Ashley, James, Cortez and the rest of the non-human crew. It was, simply an order to arrive for non-specific activity.

They all groaned as he got off the excavator. "Shepard, why are we here? It's two-thirty in the morning." Garrus said as he shielded his eyes from the bright sun.

"Not here." Shepard replied as he reached for a small box behind the requisitions terminal. "Here, it's a ten after nine. Still not sure if its morning or evening."

Ashley sleepily added in. "Trust me. It's morning. Very early in the morning. Why are we down here?"

"This!" He said opening the box pulling out a can of temporary spray paint and a football. "We're gonna blow off some steam the old fashioned way!"

The eyes of the humans in the cargo bay lit up while the aliens still looked tired and confused.

"I do not see the point of this... game, Shepard." Javik said.

"The point, is to have some fun! Now everyone grab something to eat, just make it light. You don't wanna throw it up."

While the others were grabbing a quick bite of food Shepard ran a quick set of lines, little more than 50 yards long, ten wide. There was no way he'd make it the actual size of one of the old stadium's size. For one reason, unless they were holding a gun they usually couldn't run that far. And the other, they would only be playing for an hour or so. Maybe more if everyone wanted to keep going.

Everyone came out wearing casual attire: the humans wore raggedy tan vest on top of a dark sandy brown tank top with equally dark brown jeans. Tali had a more armored mask. She had done some research on the game and was worried about a suit leak. Liara had, to what would be her regret, kept the same clothes that she usually wore, same as Javik. Garrus meanwhile had a gunmetal grey loose fitting shirt with a pair of what looked like khaki cargo shorts. His shirt had an extra wide collar to allow his mandibles to fit through.

He tossed the brown leather ball to James who exchanged it back and forth between his hands. "Okay, for those who don't know, I'm gonna lay out the rules."

"Games of this nature are pointless." Javik said.

"Okay party pooper." Shepard continued on as if nothing had happened. "First, no use of biotic or tech powers. Second, the objective is to get the ball to one side or the other side of the field. Humans will aim for this side," He said pointing with a bladed hand to his right. "Everyone else to the other." He said pointing to the left this time.

"Each time a team scores a touchdown we reset to ten yards on the losing team's side and they'll have possession of the ball. Questions?"

Tali raised a hand. "Yes, um, why are we doing humans against non?"

"Because it's the easiest way to divide the teams without going guys against girls. And in that case, I have absolutely no doubt you ladies would kick our asses despite being out-numbered."

Ashley said with her usual gung-ho enthusiasm. "Damn straight we would... sir." To which everyone grinned.

Shepard cupped his hand raising them indicating to Vega to toss the ball back to him. "If the ball touches the ground while you're holding onto it, we stop there, reset from that point and continue on. Beyond that, there's only one rule we're to hold to beyond all others: have fun." He tossed the ball to Garrus. "You can start."

Shepard, Vega, Cortez and Ashley stood a meter off of the halfway mark and huddled as Tali, Garrus, Liara and Javik did the same an equal distance on the other side of the halfway point.

"Okay so we'll do this simply: take them one-on-one. I've got Garrus. Williams, you have Liara. She's a hundred years old and an information dealer so she'll know more than she lets on. Vega, Javik. Whatever you do, don't underestimate him. Those abilities make him nearly psychic. And Cortez,"

"I got your new fiancée covered."

"She's jumpy. Try not to let her squirm around you."

"Got it. What's the play?"

"Tell ya what, call it as we see it. Break." The others clapped and said "break" after him and set up on the line in a loose V formation. The others though took a little longer, likely going into more detail on what their play would be.

_'Big mistake'_ Vega thought. The central point was to have a sound but easily adaptable play that could be described _quickly_. They eventually broke setting themselves up in a diamond formation with Garrus in back, Tali and Liara on the sides with Javik in the center forward. The way Javik stared into Vega's eyes unnerved him. Like a predator stalking his prey, waiting for just the right moment to pounce. Though the fact that he was holding the football may have had something to do with it.

"Set," Garrus called out. Evidently he had at least seen some games during his time in C-Sec. Not surprising as many of those who joined immediately after the Battle of the Citadel were humans, many of whom still watched old games aired from Earth that came in "live" to the Citadel.

'Hike, hike, HIKE!" On the third call Javik's hands shot backwards handing it off to Garrus who immediately began running backwards. A tactic that went against any sane player, but unbeknown to the human team, they knew exactly what they were doing.

Javik rolled right over James causing the tanned muscle-man to plow straight into the ground face-first. The four-eyed Prothean then tore for the far end of the field abandoning his postion. Tali and Liara kept trying to switch between blocking Ashley and Cortez as they slowly pushed them back towards Garrus. Shepard meanwhile, was tearing across the field after his friend. He had a suspicion as to his friend's strategy: use his superior aim and throw the ball. Unfortunately, he tunnel visioned. While he was catching up with Garrus, Javik was gaining leagues of distance from Vega.

Shepard managed to tackle Garrus as the ball left his hand flying through the air. Much like his skill with a sniper rifle, his skill with a football appeared to be equally as elite: a precise shot (though this time it was without his visor) at nearly 40 yards to Javik. The red armored Prothean caught the ball and ran the few remaining steps to the goal line.

The game's tune simply continued on from there with Garrus and Javik making interceptions every time Shepard's team tried to make a throw and Garrus making high-arching precision throws nearly every time. When Shepard's team would make alterations to their defensive strategy Garrus' (whom had practically become the QB and team captain) would instantly change to compensate. If Shepard didn't know better, he'd swear they were reading his team's minds.

After nearly three and a half hours, the score was 70 to 36 and Garrus' team had just scored _another_ touchdown. The problem mostly, was Shepard's team went easy on the first couple of plays to allow the others to get the hang of it and a system set up. After that it pretty much turned into a slaughter.

Tali bumped hips with Garrus and Liara, arms up waving in a victorious gesture.

"What's the matter?" Garrus taunted from the end zone. "Gonna let some aliens beat you at your own silly game?"

"Vysrat se na to..." Shepard grumbled to himself.

He tossed the ball back to Cortez who was already at the twenty. The game had attracted a crowd from both the _Raven_'s small crew and several personnel aboard the _Normandy_. Both crews were reluctant to cheer for either side though. The former for their lack of personal knowledge about the crew, the latter was simply enjoying the show feeling bad about how they were getting spanked. EDI had stepped in a couple of times to explain the concept of a "foul" to Javik.

"Damn. Didn't think they'd be this good." Ashley said panting as they huddled. The four had been nearly run ragged trying to keep up with or counter the other team. It also didn't help that Tikkun's sun was now high in the sky at over 42 degrees Celsius (or 107 Fahrenheit) causing the already trailing team to be worn even harder from the heat. And with no wind the only comfort they got was when they were running a play.

"I've got one play left they haven't seen let alone torn apart." Shepard whispered. Paranoia was gripping him _hard_. "Blitz-jump three-hold on one."

"Oi loco! Serious?" Outside of veteran bioti-ball players, most people couldn't perform a blitz-jump. And with fewer players it would be even more difficult.

"Dead serious. Ready, break!" But Shepard was far from most people.

Team Shepard lined up in a U bend on the skirmish line stretching themselves as far apart as they could while still provide close cover for each other (moving left to right it was Ashley, Shepard, Cortez, then James). Garrus' team set themselves up similarly arching back on their line to provide more accurate cover expecting a pass option. It had been Shepard's go-to allowing them to either run or, if someone was open enough, to throw it down range.

"BLUE TWENTY-EIGHT!" Shepard hollered with all the intimidating 'anger' he could muster. "RED SIX... HIKE!" Ashley and James snapped forward all but knocking Tali and Liara aside as they moved on Garrus and Javik while Cortez passed the ball over to Shepard who then joined the line himself. Shepard took a quick two steps backwards when he saw that he had an extra half-second or so before Liara could get back up.

Charging forward Shepard slammed his left leg (which had been replaced several days ago) using the superior strength to leap over the line (with room to spare) though he had a bad spiral as he arched. Landing feet first, right hand instinctively reaching out to steady himself he tore across the field as fast as he could, almost as fast as when he ran to escape the Collector base two years previous.

Garrus though had seen him as the arch had closed and broke running after Shepard, the rest of their teams following with them. As being the fastest on their respective teams, Shepard and Garrus often tried to cover the other on nearly every play. But this time, this time it wasn't quite enough. There was pride on the line. And that meant the humans would play with every ounce of courage and **#?#** of adrenaline.

He didn't need to look to see Garrus following closely. _'Faster. Faster! Faster would be better!' _He thought as he tried to squeeze just a little more speed out.

At the five meter mark Garrus leapt for Shepard's legs. He knew he wouldn't be able to catch him so went for a last ditched attempt to stop him, but to no avail. His talons barely grazed Shepard's heels as he ran right into the endzone. In an instinctive victorious move, he slammed the ball against the ground letting it bounce away one last time.

"Game... point." He huffed, arms held high in triumph. Then he fell back onto the ground. At that the crowd dispersed back to the air conditioned safety of their ships.

"Okay, time for lunch." He kept his eyes closed as he laid on the soil. Despite being half as bright, the much shorter distance from the planet to the sun more than made up for it.

"So this whole lunch thing," Tali said laying down next to him. "It's a way for you to save what little pride you have left right?"

"I still have a house to build you ya know."

"I don't know. After what just happened, I think I'd like Garrus and Javik to build it." She said with a slight giggle in her voice.

"Oh you're just mean." He said fighting through a chuckle.

He rolled back up into a seated position; sitting there for a moment before standing all the way back up. "Come on. It's probably around twelve. By the way, what kind of time system do you use when the days are thirty hours long?"

"Don't you already know?" She was a little surprised at the question. "I mean, you have done missions on planets with slower rotations right?"

"Yeah, but as you said, I was on a mission. We either used Earth-Standard or how many hours from the start of the mission."

"Oh. Well I don't really know either. I just would have though, you know." She didn't need to finish her sentence for anyone to know what she meant.

"Yup. Alliance training will help you learn everything but how to deal with _time_ on other planets."

The couple was the last ones to get back on the _Normandy_, the ramp closing behind them to keep the cooler air inside.

"Gotta say Shepard," Garrus said. His own face covered in sweat, or at least the turian equivalent. "That was a lot more fun than I thought."

Tali though had started grumbling from behind her suit.

"What's wrong?"

"My suit is all kinds of uncomfortable right now. It's sticking to me because of that game."

"Need some help getting it off?" Shepard offered.

"Please. I also need to take a shower after that."

"Well, we'll see you for dinner." Shepard said with a wide grin across his face as the elevator door closed.

* * *

**ABLE/NOVEMBER:**

_So the song lyrics are back! I didn't feel like using them for the last three because I didn't have any in my collection that I felt were even remotely appropriate._

_"Vysrat se na to" is Czech for... well, let's just say it's spoken during _very_ frustrating times._


	15. Chapter 15

_I never knew  
_

_I never knew that everything was falling through_

_That everyone I knew was waiting on a cue_

Chapter 15

After Image

April 23rd, 2187 (G-Day)

It was early morning, dawn was just about to break and most of the dew was still on the sleeping plants. But that made it all the better to start working. The heat was just too much to work for anything other than short periods of time as proven by the game the day before.

The sun was just starting to creep over the sky setting it ablaze with color ranging across the entire red and orange spectrum, stretching into the yellows and few pinks and even purple.. It really was a beautiful sight. It was also overlooking the site where Shepard would start building. And Tali wasn't allowed to see it until he and the others finished.

* * *

April 22nd (G-Day minus one)

"Wuh duh ma huh tah duh fong kwong duh wai shung" Shepard grumbled in a near cry, his head hung low. Tali had suggested that they not have any sex (much to Shepard's regret) until at least _after_ their new home was built.

"What?" Tali asked confused. She knew he could speak a little bit of several languages and sometimes would randomly speak in one of them, most notably when he swore; a hangover from spending nearly all of his time in a multi-national organization, but the meanings of many of the phrases still eluded her.

"It's just not fair. Doc let me out late last night."

"And she said you should take it easy for a while. You've already taken it upon yourself to build our home. I don't want to put you through any undo stress."

"Tali, I'm a guy. Not being with the woman you love after _months _while she sleeps right beside you is one of the most tortuous things I can imagine."

"Doctor Chakwas said you needed to take it easy, and with what she said..." She paused, regaining her composure. What the doctor had told them was, disconcerting to say the least. "I just want to make sure you're okay."

"Kore wa tada kooheide wanai." He grumbled again, changing the language yet again. "Fine." He said and began stripping the mud encrusted clothes looking to put some fresh ones on. "But this is gonna come at a cost: you don't get to see the house until the final product is ready."

"That's not fair."

Shepard chuckled to himself. "I literally said the same thing."

The pair then went down for a late lunch.

* * *

April 18th (G-Day minus five)

"Hey." Isabella said sitting down next to Garrus in the _Normandy_'s mess hall so she could see her brother and Tali (though barely) from the seat. "How's he been doing?"

"Doctor Chakwas decided to pump him with some more sedatives, so he's still out cold." Garrus replied. She could tell there was some concern in her voice but damned if he ever admitted it. What it was specifically about, she couldn't tell.

"How long has she been there?" She asked regarding Tali who was currently asleep beside him in an extra chair.

His voiced dropped to barely louder than a whisper. "Hasn't left his side yet."

"It's been nearly a week!" Her own voice quieted to almost the same tone as his.

"And she's just as dedicated as he is." That got a little chuckle from Isabella. "Something funny?"

"Only thing stubborn as a Shepard is another Shepard. Theres been studies." Garrus could hold back a laugh. He hadn't really done so for the last several days, months in fact. The last real time he had fun (before the surprise party for Shepard) was the party Shepard threw for the crew of the SR-1 and 2, past and present. "And that my scaly friend, is an immutable law of galactic badassery. I'm serious. There have been studies."

Her tone became serious again. "So how _is_ he doing?"

"Don't know. Doctor Chakwas hasn't said a word to me."

"That's not a good sign." Isabella sighed out.

* * *

"Uuuunnnrrrgh..." Shepard groaned as he awoke on the bed in sickbay. "The hell happened?" The lights were ten-fold too bright for his tastes, though they seemed to be dimming quickly. The extreme sensitivity meant he had been out for two to three days; give or take. The question he asked was more out of habit than anything else.

The rounded purple cloth covering Tali's head to his right caught his attention. _'How long have you been there?'_ He wondered. Her fingers were gently intertwined with his own. She really did look so peaceful when she slept. There was a slight shine off of her faceplate from the lights.

Now the big question, well, the important one as far as he was concerned: how to get something to eat without waking her. His right hand was intertwined with Tali's so he'd need his left to get it free. His left arm though was even less usable than his right. An IV hooked up to a trio of packs, one of which had a neon green liquid that with a slight glow. Whatever it was, Shepard dare not risk a guess what it could be. The second one sat below the other two, but was easily identifiable as blood due to the shimmering red liquid in it. The third which sat next to the green unidentified liquid was a pack with a clear liquid. In all likelihood it was a saline solution.

His stomach felt like he hadn't eaten in a month. It was probable that the saline also had some sort of a nutrient compound for his blood to absorb to travel through his system since the muscles themselves didn't feel weak.

He started looking around for something, anything he could use to eat, or get free so he could eat. It took him a moment before he recognized there was someone, a pair of someones sitting down for a meal in the mess hall. He started waiving his head around to try and draw their attention without pulling on his arms.

As it turned out, it was for naught as Chakwas entered the medical bay. She probably had her omni-tool linked to his bio-signs to alert her soon as he woke up.

"I see she still hasn't left yet." The accented woman said regarding his sleeping fiancée next to him. "How are you feeling Shepard?" The register in her voice was one of _actual_ concern as opposed to the standard doctors' greeting.

"Hungry as hell. There a buffalo I can eat around here?"

She chuckled at his shallow attempt to pass off the numbness that was starting to register in his arms. "I'll see what I can do once I run a few scans. Just need to make sure you won't throw it back up."

"Come on Doc. You've got me under a microscope and we both know it. Now do you mind telling me one, what happened to my arm." He nodded towards the now half-gray colored arm that was a combination of gainsboro and a silver-dark gray. "And two, what the hell is that green crap?"

"Ah, well the former that's a bit of a miracle you can thank EDI for. And that stuff I've been pumping through your arteries is a detox compound."

"Let's start with the detox here."

"Yes, well..." She was never speechless. Whatever it was, this had Shepard's spine tightening in worry.

"Doc, what's going on?"

"Well, when you came in I needed to sedate you. The neural sedative kept your limbs from acting about while you were under. It also put you down as you would say, 'like a log in a high-G atmosphere'." She was dodging the real question by answering another, though he did want to know what happened to half of his forearm.

Though it did look a lot better he didn't want nearly this much taken off of it. The worst part of it was there was an itch developing on his arm well back from where the flesh became metal skin. It was just PLS (Phantom Limb Syndrome) and he knew it, but that didn't stop it from wanting to scratch it.

"When we took the hand off I ran a scan of the neural-link. In all probability it had been developing for weeks but only came to a head now because of the apparent increased usage in the last few days."

"So you chopped off the damaged parts and put a replacement piece on." Shepard finished. "A nice one too. But you still haven't told me, now tell me what the hell is that nuclear moss colored sludge pumping through me?!"

He had pushed her into a corner.

* * *

"Looks like sunshine is awake." Isabella said nodding to Shepard's waving head. He looked like a goof but it was all he could get away with and she knew it.

She was just about to get up when Chakwas came out from the far side of the elevator. "Morning Major." Isabella said.

"Good morning dear." She replied back and went into the medical bay.

After the two of them talked for a minute her brother's head fell back to the pillow. What caught her attention was that he just sat there.

"What happened in there?" Garrus was wondering the same thing she was.

"I don't know." Her first instinct was to go and check on him but whatever it was he would need a moment to recover. "But we should give him a minute."

* * *

April 23rd, 2187 (G-Day)

The sun's bright rays coming over the horizon brought Shepard out of his memory.

"Time to get started." He said to himself.

Over the last few days he had thought a lot about the things he had done. Things he did wrong, how he could have fixed them in the moment. _'Hindsight is 20/20'_ he thought to himself as he walked down the ramp. _'All I can do now is try and make the best of it.'_


	16. Chapter 16

**ABLE/NOVEMBER:**

Sorry for the delay. My laptop that I write this story on has been having some tech issues as of late.

In either case, I'm back in business!

* * *

_Cause I am lost without you_

_I cannot live at all_

_My whole world surrounds you_

_I stumble then I crawl_

* * *

Chapter 16

Breaking Ground

"So," Isabella said from behind the _Normandy_'s landing strut. "what took you so long?"

"Hey there sis." Shepard said turning to face her. "What are you doing up so early?"

"You kidding? You should know better than I how much of a pain in the ass it is trying to tell time in space. My body is running on coffee right now." Her demeanor changed from joking to nervous. "You tell her?"

"Tell who what?"

"So you haven't told her." She said this as a statement, not question. Markus was starting to figure it out what she was asking but couldn't be sure.

"Izzie could you please start making some sense? Otherwise I'd like to get to work."

"Not just yet Markus." She said moving to block him from taking more than three steps away from the _Normandy_'s ramp.

"How can you not tell Tali? For god's sake Markus this is... this isn't something you can keep to yourself!"

"How the hell did you find out?"

She looked down almost like she was ashamed. "Chakwas."

"DAMN IT!" He wanted to hit something. To pound it into dust. "She was supposed to have that file _buried_!"

"I'm your damned sister! I had a right to know! And so does she! So I'll say again, what the hell is _withyou_?!"

"This is my burden and I'll bear it."

"Right up until the point where you drop dead!"

"I gotta get to work." He said trying to push her aside.

She grabbed him by the arm and spun the two of them throwing him into an armlock. "I don't think so Markie. You're not slithering out of this."

"Nice try Izz." He grabbed her foot with his artificial hand and started squeezing. It was the only thing he could do against her. When they were teens she'd often end their fights by throwing him into an armlock. He could never wiggle out of it. Until maybe now.

She growled, teeth clenched. "Not. Happening. Markie."

He squeezed a little tighter. He could almost hear the bones creaking through her worn shoes. She slammed her eyes shut as the tears welled up behind her lids. She couldn't let him get out of something this big.

"Give ...it ...up." Her voice was barely holding under the pain. If he went much tighter she'd need surgery.

Inexplicably, he just let go. He laid still for a minute before he saying a word. "I... I'm sorry Isabella. I just..." His eyes were as watery as hers, though for a different reason. "I can't do that to her. Tell her that I've got a three decade ceiling over my head. Not after what she's been through."

"And how is you dropping dead suddenly any better? You're going to have to break both my legs and my arms before I stand aside. And I won't ever keep quiet about it. So you've got two options: break my limbs and tear my tongue out or tell her the truth."

The were both sitting up now. "Izzie... please. She lost her mother when she was a child. Her father was barely there as it was and after that..." He didn't need to continue .

"When our colonies on the fringe were being taken she was accused of treason. It was during her trial that she found out her father had died. And she had to fight through it. She had to wait to mourn him. Now tell me this, in your position, could you tell the person you love that you're going to leave her just like them?"

She was at a loss. On one hand, she understood her brother's way of seeing it. But it also wasn't fair to just sweep something that big under the rug and leave it.

"If the roles were reversed would you want her to tell you?"

He sat there like a child, unsure of how to answer for a moment. Isabella however, stood over him like an authoritative parent.

"Yes." He admitted in a weak voice. "I'd want to know. So I could spend as much time with her as I could."

"But that's just the problem." He continued as she helped him up.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't take her treating me like I'm made of glass. If I tell any of them they will. They'll tiptoe around me, like they're dancing on daggers. I don't want that. I just can't take that kind of worry everyday."

"Well Markie, looks like you're stuck at a crossroad. On one hand, you can tell her and risk it. Or keep it bottled up. Add it to the list of already are, what I'm assuming, are immeasurable number of secrets you already have to keep." She was of course referring to much of the work he had done to date with the Alliance as an N7 demolisher operative. His specialty was doors, walls and anything hooked into an electrical conduit. This of course, made him an invaluable asset to Alliance black ops teams and a busy soldier on constant rotation as a result.

"So what the hell do I do?" He was completely lost on what to do.

She have a brief laugh at her brother's question. "You made life and death decisions for not only yourself, but for the galaxy, brokered treaties with nearly every race. And you're not sure to what to do about Tali with your life. I'm sorry, I just find it a little ironic."

A small grin appeared on his face. She _was_ right of course. He found a way to balance the lives of billions, perhaps even trillions of lives for months. And an irrefutable fact of his own life sent him into a blind tailspin. Yet the fact itself wouldn't alter his own life.

"Well, let's get to work. It's gonna get damned hot soon."

The twins walked in subconscious unison pace to the _White Raven_. He considered it a piece of junk held together by nothing more than chewing gum and duct tape. But if he said that to her, she would kick his ass up one trade route and down another. And after that she'd get brutal.

"You get everything to fit right?" He asked her as she lowered the cargo hatch. The ship sat far lower to the ground than the _Normandy_ did. In fact, you could stub your toe if you didn't lift you foot high enough stepping onto the _Raven_'s cargo bay; only three inches from the ground.

"It was a tight fit, but we got everything. You did neglect to get any bedding, sinks, couches, really everything you need to live in a house."

"I figured we'd get it built and decide on furniture later. I want to lay out the floor first. There's also a basement so it'll be a while before we get started on the rest of the flooring."

"Good thing I got extra shovels." She said worming her way between several large crates of building materials.

"Here, they, are." She said from somewhere he couldn't see near the back as she slowly worked her way back to the front.

"So," She climbed back out with four omni-shovels. The tools themselves were little more than a handle. The length width and shape would adjust itself to fit the user and the soil. The prongs on one side kept people from accidentally slicing their head off. "where are you thinking of starting to dig Mark?"

"Off the _Normandy_'s starboard side. Fifty feet off. I'll lay down the outer markers then we can start digging. Give me three minutes."

* * *

The Shepard twins had laid out the perimeter of the house and started digging in the center leaving the other two shovels just outside the edge on the ground and dug out a hole ten cubic meters in space before taking a break. For the most part, it only went to their waste. The important thing was to get the area before they got the depth.

Sitting on the edge of the hole they let their legs hang over the edge. "Ya know," Isabella said. "this would go a _lot_ faster if we got some extra help."

"I don't think I can trust any of them to keep quiet about the work."

"Remind me again, why _are_ you doing this? Keeping quiet about how it's going that is."

"She's uh... she's holding out."

She shook her head at his response. "She's a saint to put up with all of your juvenile shit. You do know that right?"

"I know." He had a faint smile on his face. The kind of 'I am one _lucky_ man' kinda smile.

"You are right though." He admitted. "If it's just us-"

"The hell do you mean 'us'? I'm only working today. On commission."

"Suuure you are. Either way though, it'll take months to build. Everyone will go crazy well before then." He paused considering his options. "Can you trust your crew not to say a word about it?"

"You kidding? They feared my wrath more than the Reapers."

"Aw we both know that's not only bullshit, but fake. You don't have any wrath."

"Neither do you."

"You clearly didn't see what happened to my clone."

"I've been meaning to ask you about that."

"Oh, long story. I'll tell you about it later."

"No way. You tell me now, or no crew to help you dig and build. That's my payment."

Markus hopped down, shovel in hand. "Fine. But I tell you while we work." He dove the spade into the light tan ground.

"By the way, Sonja said she should be done with her new assignment in two weeks or so. I'm sure she could bring a couple of GROPOS to help." GROPO was a common term for a Marine, short for 'ground pounder'.

"No way. Bad enough having one in the family. No way I want a dozen jarheads building my house. They'd just use spent thermal clips for insulation saying 'it's free heating'."

"You ever gonna stop razzing her for becoming a marine and not following the family tradition of swabbies?" Swabbie was an equally derogative term used to refer to someone in the navy.

"Let me think about that real quick." He paused only for the briefest of seconds. "Nope."

* * *

By midday Isabella had made true on her promise and gotten her four crew members into the hot sun working along side them. Interestingly enough, there was little complaint about the heat.

When they finally stopped at sunset, the basement had been dug out save for a ramp until proper stairs had been put in. The six humans had dug nine feet deep, twenty feet wide and thirty feet long.

Shepard threw his feet up on the mess hall table when he sat down, two resequenced nutrition bars in each hand. They had run out of real food and were back on military rations which, while extremely nutritious and filling, tasted at best, like five day old leftovers. What was worse, was he hadn't even bothered to change. He was still in the same dirt encrusted outfit that made him look more like an MMA fighter or a grease monkey than anything else. The collar on the brown jacket had since eared a worn tear all along the base of the neck. He had been smart enough however to wear colors that would work in the hot sun without showing too much dirt. The boots were another story.

For a few minutes he sat there, eating the nutrient bars, drinking nearly a gallon of water in a single gulp and muttering to himself in-between regarding his plans on how to build the house. When he finished he walked over to the old XO's office/quarters.

"Liara?" He said knocking on the door. The holographic light was green but it had been drilled into him to _always_ knock. Especially when the room belonged to a woman.

The door opened to show the tired asari not wearing her usual while getup, but what he could only guess was a pair of pajamas. "Oh, Shepard. What can I do for you?" Her eyes blinked rapidly trying to focus on him.

"Sorry." He immediately apologized. "Didn't mean to wake you."

"I was just going to sleep actually."

"Well then, I've got a favor I'd like you to sleep on. Feel free to say no though. I won't be offended."

* * *

April 24th, 2187

The rest that Markus and the crew of the _Raven_ had gotten was quite good, though after hard work like that most people usually passed out for twelve hours or so.

When he awoke he dawned the same clothes he had worn the day before. They were a little stiff from the hardened dirt and dried sweat, but he didn't have any other clothes that would work as well in the hot Tikkun sun. If there was one bad thing about Rannoch, it was that it was far closer to the sun Tikkun than Earth was to Sol.

Sitting down at the mess table he was surprised to see Liara in her usual attire.

"You do know this is gonna be intensive work. Work using your hands and in the dirt."

"I don't mind." She said calmly. "If you recall, I was an archaeologist for several decades."

"Right. Just got so used to you being the Broker that I think I forgot." He said as he pulled a nutrition bar out of the cabinet. "Banana beef? What jackass is making these combinations?"

"I tried a grape and shrimp. It was... interesting."

"Yeah that's one way of putting it." He said as he chewed down on the military grade ration. "Personally, I'd almost rather suck down food through a plastic tube than keep eating this for the rest of my life."

"Well then, I believe you may wish to come by my quarters during the lunch hour. I received a message you may want to see."

He finished the last morsel of the triple-processed food. "Well then, let's get started."

The old friends rode the elevator down to Deck Five. They walked down and saw his sister's crew and made introductions.

"Good morning everyone. For those who haven't read up on the crew, this is Liara T'Soni." He said introducing Liara first. It seemed fair as he had only one to do. Make it quick so everyone could start working. "She's been wonderful enough to volunteer her help. With her, it'll take a few days off."

It was Isabella's turn to introduce her crew members.

"This is-"

"Garret Harcourt." Liara said to the _Raven_'s. It was a bad habit she had: fill in the information about to be provided to her. Her vast information network was the reason for it. Over the course of the war it had diminished severely, but was still better than the salarian STG.

"You and captain Shepard began dating a few weeks ago." The man shrunk down as much as he could. Garret was already small, standing only 4'11. Against a Shepard he was very short; and now he was trying to disappear entirely.

"Rachael Cole, communications officer." She continued.

"Sacre bleu." Markus whispered as quiet as a pin drop.

Cole had since died her short hair from its natural black hair, adding several cobalt streaks in it turning half of her hair blue.

Liara continued this with the other two members of Isabella's crew, Jerry Wallace and Jonathan Hildebrand, the _White Raven_'s engineer.

After Liara introduced Isabella's crew to herself Markus explained, in part, her work as a member of the Shadow Broker's intelligence gatherers. It was close enough to the truth, but Isabella was a little disturbed by the level of information the asari had on her crew.

"Is she always like that?" Isabella asked her brother as the others walked towards the _Raven_ to get the support beams and began screwing them together. "So..." She didn't need to finish her sentence for her brother to know what she was talking about.

"Yeah. Started a few months after I went MIA after the Battle of the Citadel."

"She is very well informed."

"You have no idea."


	17. Chapter 17

_Workin in a coal mine  
Goin' down down  
Workin' in a coal mine  
Whoops! About to slip down_

Chapter 17

Building a Surprise

May 3rd, 2187

Tali knew that work on her and Markus' new home would be finished soon. He never said what was done, whether he was on schedule with his expectations or any of it. Kasumi had supplied that information when she arrived two days earlier. Unfortunately she had disappeared again just as quickly. They hadn't had enough time to catch up properly.

The two had spoken in her quarters and showed Kasumi her ring. When Kasumi left she only told Tali that she had to "pick up a few things". In all likelihood, she was making a thieving run for a few items to give to her and Shepard. She wanted to ask but knew it was far better to have plausible deniablity.

It was reaching midday so Markus should be coming in for an hour for lunch and to cool off from the sun. She was finishing her own treatments for the day. If Shepard wanted to surprise her with a house then she'd surprise him with something herself.

* * *

"Hey Loco!" James called to Shepard from the little bit of the second story that had been built so far. Once the frame for one room had gone up Shepard insisted that it be finished save for the ceiling. The whole thing looked a kinda like a dollhouse from above. "It's almost noon. These guys need to lay down for a few minutes."

"Okay." He took a few steps back looking at the new wall going up on the second floor. It was coming along about as well as he had hoped. His initial estimates were _way_ under what it would have taken if he had done it all himself. "EVERYONE, TAKE AN HOUR OR TWO FOR LUNCH!" He yelled loudly. A few had been using power tools so he wanted to make sure they all heard him.

"YOU ALL KNOW THE DRILL!" It was a safety concern. They take a while to cool off, drink as much as they can stomach. James, Ashley, Liara. Cortez, Isabella and her crew walked up the ramp. Garrus had been called away by the Council the day before. A couple of the crew had expressed wanting to help him after all he had done; listening to their emotional problems during the war. Even now he had to be the last one back on the ship. With the last back inside he started thinking about what would be next. The carport? Or maybe the master bedroom? Trivial decisions like this drove him mad.

_'Well, better get some water. I'm as parched as a mummy.'_ He thought to himself before walking up the ramp.

"Excuse me!" A female voice came from behind him making him stop. He had requested the Quarian government not to reveal the position of his home to anyone outside of Alliance HIGHCOM, though more specifically, only Hackett or member of his family. The voice sounded a little unsure of itself, nervous.

"E-excuse me, sir?" The woman repeated as he turned around. She looked to be about 21 or so. Her black hair was cut fairly short with a natural messy look to it. There were a few red streaks in it similar to how one of Isabella's crew had dyed her hair so it was fairly reasonable to assume civilian further bringing up the question of how she had found him. Add to the supposition she was a civilian was her very fair skin.

It was her eyes though that caught his attention. There was something... familiar about them but he couldn't place it. They were a pale gray with a small handful of pink slivers near her pupil. It looked like looking into a cartoon black hole.

"What's you name? Are you lost?" He asked her.

"No I'm not. I uh, I have a message. I need to tell you something sir. It's from, well, let's just say we both know her very well. It's important. Please."

"Whose it from?"

"I can't tell you that I'm sorry."

"You come to my not-yet built house in the middle of nowhere, tell me you have an important message from a mutual friend but can't tell me who it's from? You gotta give me something here kid-"

"I'm not a kid dammit! Why do," She paused for a moment. Something nearly slipped out of her mouth that she wasn't supposed to say, whatever it was. "Why does everyone think I'm a child?"

"Those streaks in your hair don't help. Mostly teens and early 20's do it."

"They're natural." She certainly didn't back down. She had actually taken a few small subtle steps forward bringing herself to within two feet of him. He hadn't even noticed.

"Please. I- I don't have a lot of time. Will you listen?"

"Okay okay. What is it?"

"Keep an eye on Garrus. It's important. I-I can't say why or how. Just don't forget it."

Shepard took a step bringing his face close to hers, his eyes on fire. "I don't like people threatening my family."

"It's not a threat. I swear. Look, you can't tell anyone about this. Don't forget it."

She took a worried step back. "I'm sorry. I wish I could stay but I need to go back."

The young woman ran down the ramp and turned towards the house. "And please promise you'll be careful too."

"Hey kid!" Shepard called following her, but when he reached the bottom there was no one there. "Kid! Where'd you go?!" She hadn't had enough time to get inside the half-built house and the _White Raven_ was locked up tight.

"EDI?"

"_Yes Shepard."_

"Do you know where that woman went?"

"_What woman?"_

"What do you mean 'what woman'? The kid I was talking to just a second ago."

"_You have not spoken to anyone besides yourself for nearly two minutes Shepard."_

"The hell are you talking about? There was a woman here just a moment ago, about Ashley's height. She gave me some cryptic threat about Garrus and disappeared."

"_I assure you Shepard, the only person outside the ship right now is yourself."_

"Okay EDI never mind. Must be the heat getting to me."

"_Would you like me to alert doctor Chakwas?"_

"No. I think I'll just take a little more time off today."

"_Very well Shepard. I should inform you however, Tali is becoming anxious at your absence."_

"Thanks EDI. Tell her I'm on my way."

He hit the button for Deck Three. Maybe it really _was_ just the heat getting to him, causing a hallucination. But why one like _that_? Even the craziest possibility wouldn't make any sense of it.

* * *

After Markus and the others had finished their lunch and returned to working on the house Tali went back to the medical bay. One of them (Isabella) had let slip how much they had done after Tali kept pushing how much was left to do. At the rate they were working, the house would be painted and furnished before she could have her immunity boosted.

"Tali? Are you feeling sick?" Chakwas asked when she entered. Tali didn't even need to say a word for the doctor to know who it was.

"No. Well, I'm feeling a little heavy. And a little dizzy sometimes. I uh, I wanted to know if I could do another session today."

"EDI," The doctor said looking up. It had become a habit the crew had, as if she had a face on the ceiling. It felt more natural then looking straight ahead or at a terminal screen or otherwise occupied. "Do you feel its safe to try again?"

"_The risk would be minimal doctor. But as I said when I first began, my physical body would be temporarily deactivated. In simple terms, I would be too spread out if I tried existing in all three locations."_

"I remember. If you'd come down we can get started."

* * *

Markus and the others had returned to the hot sun, now bristling at a steak cooking 55 degrees centigrade. Every few minutes they would have to stop and hit themselves with a low level cryo blast; enough to cool off but not so strong to cause any notable slowness or injury. Something akin to cooling off with the garden hose on 20th and early 21st century Earth. There was a breeze though that brought the temperature down a round five to seven degrees. It wasn't much but better than nothing.

_'The joys of interstellar travel.'_ Isabella thought. It was late spring on Earth, but Rannoch was in the hot point of summer and with the longer days it got even hotter than most planets. That's why she preferred the artificially cooled air of a starship. On the bright side, by Halloween. Then be askew again by the time Earth's winter holidays rolled around.

"Oi, Boss! You'll get heatstroke you keep standing still in the sun like that." Garret said from the second story. The house was going to be damned luxurious. It already had over 2,500 square feet including five bedrooms and four baths. Evidently he planned in case any crew members wanted to come over and reminisce. Most of what needed to be done was get a real floor and something more permanent for the wall. She guessed he was waiting for the rest of it to be decided by the couple. He really _was_ going all out.

"Thanks Garr." She said moving into the 'shade'. It was almost as bad inside the house as outside. The only things that were actually finished in the house were the windows, all of which were open to let the breeze through.

* * *

May 7th, 2187

Markus had ordered the previous day off. With how hard everyone had been working it was past due. As the sun was setting he decided to make it two days. He however had no respite. The garage was done, as was most of the first floor. He had thought of adding on a sauna room. Something to just calm down in. That of course led to a the thought of adding a zen garden room. Both those he of course built, but was starting to run low on materials. Despite calculating for mis-cuts, the new additions took up a lot of room and he hadn't even started on the greenhouse yet.

The sun was setting setting the sky ablaze with deep blues, purples and indigos as he thought about what he would do tomorrow when everyone resumed working. It really only needed another two days or so. That is if he didn't get any more add-ons. Then there was furnishing and painting of course.

He sighed with an audible self-frustration. "I really am an idiot."

"Hell I coulda told you that years ago little bro!"

"Sonja!" He exclaimed turning to see his older sister. Her hair was cut back a bit to a shaggy bob cut. It was regulation length (though barely) but could still be styled. The last he had seen her it was kept in a ponytail when on duty.

"Don't tell me you built all this yourself Markie. I haven't been gone that long!"

He chuckled at her joke. Even with them being in separate branches of the military he felt closer to her than either Amanda or Isabella. "No. No I had help."

"Good. Was afraid my little bro was finally learning the value of a hard day's work."

"Hey! I did manage to save the galaxy a few times."

"Yeah, but that was one, spread out over nearly four years. And two, you did that with a team. Whoop de friggin doo." When ever they got close to each other they always regressed to a state of childish jokes.

"So what are you doing back so soon? I thought you were busy on the ass end of the galaxy."

"I was. Cerberus remnant. Can't really get into it. Sorry."

"Oh don't worry. I know what that's like. Would you like to come in for dinner? We don't have much. Just the military-grade food bars."

"Dear god I hate those." She groaned. "They just ruin my figure."

"Sis you're practically a supermodel. Now if you could reel in that rack, you could probably work the runway."

"Nice way to complement your older sister." She joked sticking her tongue out. It was likely they'd be like this till the day they died.

"By the way, good to see you cut that crap off your head." She was referring to the hair that had grown out during his depression on Earth. "You were looking like a hobo."

He ran his mechanical hand through his hair barely rustling it. He had cut it back within regulation, his trademark Ivy League cut. "Had to. Just too damned hot to do so otherwise. You been in the sun? I feel like I'm spending a day on Tuchanka."

"So that explains this farmer's tan you got going on."

"You want to eat dinner or do you want to keep insulting me?"

"Can't I do both?" The immature twins began walking up the _Normandy_'s ramp.

"Hey, before we go say 'hi' to the others I need to ask you something."

"Look as much as I'd love to, the role of best man is, traditionally, a guy. I'm just not cool enough for my sister to organize my bachelor party."

She smacked him upside the head. "That's not what I meant and you know it you idjit. Just tell me, have you told Tali your cells got a timer on them?"

"What're you talking about?" She smacked him again.

"OW! Dammit Sonja!"

"Izzie said you've wiggled out of it. And we both know I'm not as lenient as she is." She had thrown a G7 lockout on the cargo bay door to prevent him from finding another way to avoid having the conversation. "So tell me. Did you tell her? Hell have you even told mom or Mandy?"

He tightened his jaw for a moment, angry at his own response. "No. I haven't told anyone. Izzie had to push Chakwas to tell her."

"DAMMIT! MARKUS CAMDEN SHEPARD," She never used his full name. Not even their parents had done so at their angriest points. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. Even the loudest, toughest DI would be impressed with her at that moment.

"BECAUSE I'M TIRED!" He yelled back, collapsing on a crate in the process.

"I'm so damned tired." He repeated in a whisper now. "Do you know what it's like, dying like I did?"

She knelt down to be eye level with him. "What are you talking about? You're still standing. Metaphorically of course."

"Not really. When Cerberus brought me in, I was brain dead, organs all shut down, body pounded to a pulp." As much as he fought he hadn't been able to hold back the tears from forming. He dropped his head to keep Sonja from seeing them build. "I'm little more than a lab experiment. One out of desperation."

"Bullshit." She said with a calm conviction. "You're my little brother. You always have been and always will be. And you know what? That makes it my job to make sure you're okay. Come on," She lifted him up by the shoulder. "let's go for a walk. Somewhere private."

He wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. "Sonja... thank you." He said.

"Of course Markus. Now come on." She said in a motherly tone. "Let's go for that walk. Anything else been on your mind?"


	18. Chapter 18

**ABLE NOVEMBER:** This is likely to be the last chapter for a while. It's nearly my birthday (next Sunday actually) and I'm starting to pack for my second year at college so I'll be focusing on making sure everything here at home is tied up in a neat little bow. While I'd like to think that I'll be doing a fair bit of writing I don't want to make a promise I can't keep. So for those in my situation and those still in grade school, ganbante! (do your best!) and good luck with the new year.

* * *

_But you and I we've been through that  
And this is not our fate  
So let us not talk falsely now  
The hour's getting late._

Chapter 18

A Midsummer Night's Stroll

Sonja and Markus had walked nearly two kilometers before stopping in a grassy field at the base of one of Rannoch's cliffs. They walked at a leisurely pace so the sun had already set by the time they stopped, though a word hadn't been spoken between them since.

"You've been quiet." Sonja said sitting down on a rock a few feet from the base of the cliff.

"So have you." He sat down on the rock beside her, both looking at the starry sky.

"Isabella didn't say how long you have. You know?"

"Chakwas said it was hard to estimate, but her best guess is thirty, thirty-five years."

"Why haven't you told Tali? The real reason."

He looked up to the sky and avoided the question. "When was the last time we just sat out under the stars? No mission, no orders."

She indulged him, but didn't plan to let him avoid it forever. "I think I was around fourteen, so you would have been seven. Geez. That was a camping trip with everyone on Benning. As I recall, Amanda got a nasty case of poison ivy."

"But it was a good week. During the day we'd go fishing with dad, hunt with mom or just sit on the grass and soak up the sun." His eyes were wide with nostalgia. As an active military family it was difficult for both parents to be stationed together let alone get shore leave at the same time.

"You remember how you tried to go all 'Karate Kid' while you and dad were on the boat?" He said breaking into small fits of laughter.

She couldn't help but grin at the memory. It was one of her favorites as well. "And then he rocked the boat sending me into the freezing water, yeah I remember. It took most of the day to dry out again."

"You know I haven't thought about that vacation in literally years. Mostly it's..." His voice simply died not wanting to admit where the back of his mind ended up going.

"The war?" She ventured. It wasn't hard to guess. The rate of PTSD for the surviving soldiers was over 45%. Even more so for those who those who were on Earth at the end.

"Just two things." His head slunk back down to look at the ground. "That dream and when I died."

"While Cerberus brought you out of a two year coma?"

"No. When Cerberus put me back together piece by piece." He never admitted to anyone but there hadn't been much time to talk after he found out. "When they hauled me in I was brain dead, my organs turned to jelly and bones little more than shattered kindling. I was dead as you could get. Ten kilometers down with a ruptured O2 valve slamming into a frozen rock.

"I still remember feeling the heat as I started tearing through the atmosphere. God it hurt." He closed his eyes remembering the searing pain. The heat from planetary entry temporarily providing a relief from the coldness of deep space before it began his skin began to boil. He still didn't know if he passed out from the pain or lack of oxygen. A tear made it past rolling down his eyes as he recalled what happened.

"It's over Markus." She said rubbing his back. "It's all in the past. You still made it. Nobody cares how. Not me, not mom or Garrus or Izzie or Tali. You're still standing Markus." She reassured him.

"Then why do I feel like I'm still falling from orbit? Lost without any way to steady myself."

"I believe that's known as 'cold feet'. It's pretty common among men and even the occasional woman."

"Will it go away? I mean ever?"

She sighed through her nose before answering. "I just don't know. You'd have to talk with someone who went through what you did for a good answer. All I can say is, if you ever want to talk I'll do what I can."

"Thank you. I take it you want to know why I haven't told Tali."

"I'll admit, I've been wondering what the answer to that is."

"I guess a list might explain it best: Akuze, Alchera, Earth, it just goes on. The list of times I should have died but someone, _something_," He corrected. "decided to spare me. And now there's this. If I don't tell her about it I don't have to face it myself."

She gave him a light smack in the head. "You'll have to deal with it in thirty years or so anyways." She turned back to being serious. "You've done the stupid thing a lot. There was enlisting in the navy, the trouble that you and Alex got into on the _Mekong_, that incident on Shanxi. Honestly, I'm surprised the military even took you in let alone let you become an officer."

"Way to make me feel better."

"I'm not done so shut up and listen to your older sister. Through it all you've always gone with what your conscious told you was right. So don't listen to anyone else. Not even me."

He gave a slight 'you're right hmph' at her answer. It was the first time since the Crucible anyone had openly said that he should do what feels right by him. And of course it would have to be his sister who said it.

He sat there for a few minutes in silence. She knew he was arguing with himself and didn't want to distract him. Her mind was elsewhere as it was, though not as intensely.

Finally he stood up and began walking back to the ship.

"Hold up Markus." He turned to see his sister laying on the grass. "You were right. It's been too long since we did this." It took him a second longer than he cared to admit as to what it was she was doing: just looking at the stars.

"Yeah. You're right." He joined her on the blue-green grass.

"You know the worst part of being in our generation?" She asked.

"Uh, piss-poor investment opportunities?"

"Well that too. But the thing is, when they were young, they got to look up at the sky and dream about what was out there. Us? We already knew. I mean, I'm at the tail end of it. I was ten when Shanxi was invaded. The galaxy seems a little smaller when you know all the answers doesn't it?"

"Heh. You sound a lot like Kaidan. He was so full of energy."

"If you're going down memory lane, I'm gonna need a beer. Or ten."

"Hey. What happens on leave, _stays_ on leave."

"Sure sure. I'm just pretty certain though what you did could have been construed as espionage against the Asari."

"Yeah yeah yeah."

They laid in silence once more for a few more minutes before Markus got up.

"We better be getting back." He explained. "Tali's probably worried about us."

"You gonna tell her?"

"...Yes. She has a right to know. There is one thing I would like to know. Why haven't you ever told me to ask Mandy or Izzie when I've had a problem?"

"It's pretty simple actually. I see a lot of myself in you. And I like me. Therefore, helping you is like helping me. I'm narcissistic that way." They both laughed the rest of the way back to the _Normandy_.

* * *

**ABLE NOVEMBER:** Hi everyone! First off, thank you so much for the follows. I never planned on this story getting this long. It was only meant to be a one-off set years later from where it is currently. As it formed in my head it got longer and longer. I wished to tell you this as the number of views is closing on 10,000. Thank you!

But here's the "fun" part. I'm stuck. I need to be able to think a few chapters ahead but I'm dead stuck on what to do for Tali and Markus' wedding. I want it to be a mix of Quarian and Human customs, but I have NO IDEA what to do for the Quarian side. If you have any thoughts of your own or something you've read from another story (please include title and author if the latter is the case) please PM me with the subject header _tRH wedding thoughts_. I look forward to seeing what you have to say.


	19. Chapter 19

_When I finally return  
Things that I learn  
Carry me back to home _

Chapter 19

A Proper Day Off

Markus and Sonja were grabbing a late night dinner in the mess hall: more pre-packaged military-grade field rations.

"What did your wheel of death spit out?" Markus asked between bites. It was always fun to see others suffer from what they could only construed as purposeful torture by whomever was making their food.

"Brown rice and watermelon. I know it sounds like crap but it kinda works. Don't ask me why. How 'bout you?"

"Banana beef. Pretty sure I had this flavor a few days ago."

"Think they've finally run out of ideas for mass murder of our taste buds?"

"To whatever god exists, I pray that they have."

"Listen Markie," Sonja said standing up after finishing the last of her ration. "I love staying up with you but I'm about to fall asleep. I'll crash on Izzie's ship. Looks like you guys are pretty full for cots."

"You mean racks."

"Whatever. Good night Markie." She was just about at the elevator to go down to the cargo bay.

"Hold on!" Markus had followed her, his half-eaten banana and beef flavored food still in hand. "There's one thing I want to know. Your message said you'd be gone for at least two months. What changed?"

"Couple Spectres."

"Really? Two of them?"

"Yeah. One of them was your buddy Garrus." He cut her off before she could say who the second one was.

"Garrus? Really?! I guess I oughta check my emails."

"Yeah. The other was a turian as well. Female. I think it was Latiria something. I'm sorry. I'm falling asleep right now." She stepped into the elevator and tapped the Deck Five button. "See you in the morning?"

He only had enough time to give a quick nod before the elevator closed.

When he reached his cabin Tali had already fallen asleep.

_'I'll talk with her in the morning. Bad news always seems to find itself there no matter what.'_ He thought as he sat down at his desk. He set the lights on the projector to minimum so he hopefully wouldn't wake her up. It was a strain to see, but he only needed it like this for a few seconds. He adjusted the angle of the computer to face the corner where his hamster sat and darkened the display case so the light wouldn't shine through. After that he turned it back up to 50%.

First thing, check any emails that had come in the last three weeks. The only ones he was looking at were those coming from Alliance HIGHCOM. Interestingly, there was one from personnel requisitions from over two weeks previous.

_[To: Rear Adm. Shepard, Markus C. Service no. 5923-AC-2826 _

_From: Systems Alliance Personnel and Unit Requisitions, Lieutenant Commander Gina Brunt._

_Subject: Required update of personal and medical information_

_Transmitted: 1734 hours, April 20th, 2187 Earth military calendar_

__If your service number or name are not a match please respond immediately with your information to correct the error in Alliance personnel database.__

_Admiral Shepard, we have received a notice in change of medical status shortly after the meeting with the Council. According to our information, you are now requiring regular medical injections of a complex chemical formula on a weekly basis as detailed by Major Karin Chakwas (document number 7713029-T-221, _SSV Normandy_)._

_This change, if correct will bar you from all current field missions in the Alliance. Given service we would understand if you wished to resign your commission. If this is the case, an medical discharge will be issued._

_Contact Personnel and Unit Requisitions within one month's time (Earth standard). If no response your immediate contact will be informed of status and a charge of two days in brig and week's pay hold will be issued._

_P.S. We've also heard rumors about you getting engaged to a member of the _Normandy_crew. I'm holding off on sending the paperwork for that. I don't want to add fire in case it is just a rumor._

_P.P.S I don't believe it's too out of line for saying so, but on behalf of the Alliance navy, marines and the rest of the galaxy, thank you Admiral Shepard for saving our collective asses._

_Lieutenant Commander Gina Brunt, Personnel and Unit Requisitions Alliance Navy._

_Temporary HQ _Echo Station_, Horizon Orbital Defense station.]_

This truly was the most annoying part of the job in the Alliance: the large mountain of paperwork that was required for even the simplest update in personal information.

_'Which one first? Which which which which which?' _He ranted in his head. In all reality, it would likely be best if he filled out personal emergency notification data first then medical. Though it would be pointless as the documents would be sent in the same reply.

He pulled up multiple forms he'd need to fill out. 1030-7A to 1030-7F, 1110-20C, F and G, and at least four others. Just to notify the Alliance that he was marrying Tali (all of which he'd check to leave the information out of public records). Another eight would be needed for medical information and twelve to fifteen to request leave most of which would be filling information out on his previous missions as to why he deserves an early dismissal.

* * *

**April 8th, 2187**

By the time he finished the paperwork he had been awake for 35 hours straight. Even for an humans who used adrenaline like this often it was straining for Shepard.

_[To: Systems Alliance Personnel and Unit Requisitions, Lieutenant Commander Brunt, Gina_

_From: Rear Adm Markus Shepard, _SSV Normandy

_Subject: re-Required update of personal and medical information_

_Transmitted: 0216 hours, May 8th, 2187 Earth military calendar]_

And it didn't help that he was still adjusting to the 32 hour days on Rannoch.

_[I wish to apologize to you and those in PUR who have been held up due to my negligence in responding. I have been performing several services for my crew over the last several weeks and have not had the time to perform the required updates until now._

_Attached documents are organized by subject followed by number (family and contact information, medical, honorable discharge requested respectively)._

_I would like to thank you for giving me an extra fifteen days to fill out the forms._

_Regards,_

_Rear Admiral Markus Shepard,_

SSV Normandy_]_

He leaned back in his chair and sighed. The last time he had spent this much time in front of a computer since his early days at Rio de Janeiro.

He groaned rubbing his eyes. "Oh man this sucks."

"What's wrong?"

"Oh geez. I'm sorry I didn't mean to wake you." Tali was standing next to the aquarium controls with the bed sheet thrown around her shoulders.

"I've been up for a few minutes. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I've just been up all night doing some well past due paperwork."

"Can't it wait until morning, or rather later in the morning?" She was just as tired as he was.

"No, no it couldn't. In fact it was suppose to have been done a week ago."

"So why wait?"

He stood up and leaned in close to her. "Because I've been too tired building our new home." He kissed her audio port. It was the closest thing he could do while she was behind her mask.

"I'm gonna grab a few hours sleep. If my sisters come 'round tell them we got an additional day off." Without another word he shuffled to the bed and fell down, missing the headboard by a hair's breath.

* * *

"Well I'd say that's out of character but it really isn't." Sonja said.

Tali filled Sonja on what happened when the latter came on-board to find out what happened to her brother.

The two were in engineering while Tali ran a diagnostic on the _Normandy_'s landing struts. Ken and Gabby had insisted they could do today's work with no problems but were overruled by their boss. There were days that it almost seemed like the _Normandy_'s senior was chosen through nepotism.

"Come on, the kids here are saying you should take some time off and I'd like to talk with my soon to be sister-in-law. I'll get Izzie and we'll go into town. Maybe get Ash, Sam and Liara; have a girl's day. I heard the geth have done an awesome job rebuilding the cities. There's gotta be somewhere fun."

"Well you're not leaving me behind." Gabby said. "I don't think any of us have really had a day off with Shepard in charge."

"Go ahead. I've got things here, just need to run a check on the hull. See the emergency repairs are causing a slight feedback in the surface hull sensors giving a gho-."

"Kenneth."

"Sorry. Go ahead and go, assuming our Cheng says 'come with'."

"Cheng?" Tali asked. She was still learning military slang, though the time when the _Normandy_ flew with Cerberus colors didn't help as it seemed more like a strict civilian command.

"Chief engineer." Daniels and Adams replied in unison.

"Well, I mean if you want to," Tali stumbled. "I don't really think there'll be a lot. Maybe like a-a spa at most or-"

"Perfect! The showers just don't get me clean enough."

"Well I don't know about you, but I prefer you when you're dirty."

"Kenneth!" Gabby said jabbing him. They had tried, albeit badly, to keep their relationship quiet. It was as well known as Tali and Markus' relationship. "So we heading out now?"

"Soon as you two are ready. Sent a message to the others while you were talking. They're already in the cargo bay prepping the shuttle."

"I'm all done here." Gabby said closing down her terminal.

"Me too."

* * *

"Oi. That was a good nap." Markus said as he woke up. "EDI, what time is it?"

"_Approximately ten hours Shepard."_

"TEN HOURS?! Damn."

"_I apologize Shepard, however you slept through your alarm and made no request in case you slept through it."_

"No no. I'm not mad at you. I just didn't mean to sleep this long. Please tell me that nobody is working on the house today?"

"_They are not. Colonel Shepard gathered Traynor, Williams, Liara, Tali, Captain Shepard and engineer Daniels for a "girl's day". They left more than three hours ago."_

"Any idea when they'll be back?"

"_No."_

"Okay, well, buzz me when they're on their way back."

"_I will. There is also a message on your personal extranet account from an Alex Sedgwick."_

By this point he had a black tee and a pair of loose fitting jeans on. It was about all he had left that was still clean. He made a quick mental note to actually run the laundry he had before the day was done.

He logged on and pressed the 'play' button on the video message. A dark skinned man appeared on the small computer terminal.

"_Hey there cockbite."_ The man on the screen said. He and Markus had been friends since early childhood as both of their parents were Alliance military and as a result, was one of the few people who could talk to him like that openly without being blood related. Over the years they ended up at three different postings together before going their separate ways when he enlisted in the navy while Alex went to geographical studies at an Earth university. _"__Heard you quietly skipped out from Earth a few weeks ago. I apparently arrived a few days after you left. Bounce me a wave! I haven't heard from you since around the first battle you had at the Citadel. The Alliance sent me to Io. Figure I'll be here for at least another month. Big wigs are still trying to rebuild Earth and the other colonies. And since there's not much use for a geologist right now, I've been categorized as F-7. Basically, I'm bottom of the barrel and they want me out of the way. Don't really blame them though. Unless I've got soil samples under a scanner I'm not of much use._

"_Since there hasn't been any news waves about you since Earth I figured you're not on any of our worlds. Anyways like I said, bounce me a wave. Would be nice to catch up with you. See ya later Sheppy. I mean, you know, hopefully."_

He sent a quick reply inviting him to Rannoch to catch up. On his credit chit of course. Since he came back with Cerberus there hadn't been much time, or any time for that matter, to stop and talk with anyone outside of his crew, military personnel to get support or supplies.

With the message sent he went down for lunch.

* * *

"Ohhh this is niiice." Traynor moaned as she sunk into the mud bath.

"Told you it was a good idea Specialist." Colonel Sonja Shepard said from the tub next to her.

"Keelah I didn't think this felt nice." Tali said. She kept her helmet on despite being submersed to her chin in the brown mineral-enriched 'mud'. She always thought it was a pointless thing her weak immune system not withstanding.

"Oh yeah. You should try this on Illium." Isabella said. Her eyes were covered with a cucumber-like vegetable slice. "Those contracts for pleasure levels of the buyer. Dear god the ways I've manipulated them..." She said with a chuckle.

"You know, I once got them to pull all the stops out for my crew because of a sub clause in the stress-relief guarantee. It took an hour of arguing, but for a two hour massage, well worth it."

"You ever think about going into politics?" Ashley asked from the farthest bath.

"Bah! She'd go crazy." Sonja laughed in response. "She can't handle anyone telling her what to do. Not even when she was little. Mom and dad actually had to throw her in the brig a couple times to cool her heels."


	20. Chapter 19b

_The thoughts that I feed_

_Planting a seed_

_With time, will begin to grow_

Chapter 19b

A Proper Day Off (pt II)

Markus had spent the entire time Tali was gone planning possible aesthetic designs for the walls, cabinets, tables, etc. Little decisions like this drove him nuts. His choice wouldn't have any registrable negative impact; no one would be injured, died, nobody would have to clean up his mess. The worst that would happen here would be he'd have to pay to get it replaced. And the months of back pay he had, it'd be a dent but not a too costly one.

"Off white cream," He talked to himself in the house. "or just do the damned yellow?"

"I dunno boss, I'd go with a soft gray myself."

"Shi- JOKER!" Shepard hadn't noticed his pilot come in. "How long you been standing there?"

"Long enough to know I'm glad the Reapers didn't try to make us do interior decorating. I mean damn, I've seen you cut wires on nuclear bombs faster than this."

"Smartass. So what're you doing down here."

"Haven't been down to look at the house. Got curious."

"So what do you think?"

"Kinda small."

"Small? If this house were any bigger I'd need a permit to build a city."

"Yeah? And?"

"You really can't shut it off can you?" He asked rhetorically.

"Nope." Joker shot back with pride. "But in all seriousness I'd go with a soft gray. Goes good with any color for the counter tops and appliances."

"Makes sense; just too bland."

"What and yellow isn't it's cliché. So is cream."

"It's a classic."

"Please, that scheme has been outdated since before spaceflight."

Before Shepard could respond back his omni-tool pinged.

"_Shepard,"_ EDI said. _"__there's a problem. I believe you'll want to take this privately."_

* * *

Shepard walked into the Rayya city jailhouse. So much for a nice day off.

"What, the fuck, were you two thinkin'?" He asked Isabella and Sonja as they stepped out of the cells. "You _assaulted_ the _head of HOMEWORLD SECURITY!_" He practically yelled the last half of his sentence.

"To be fair, it wasn't our fault." Isabella said.

"We didn't start it." Sonja added on.

"So what the hell _did_ happen?"

* * *

"_Dear lord that felt good!" Ashley said stretching as the women walked out of the spa. "I didn't feel this good after the party we had."_

"_That was fun." Traynor joined in. "We should do that again."_

"_Gotta ask, why were you staring at my ass so much?" Sonja said._

"_You didn't know?" Isabella said to her sister._

"_Know what?"_

"_That she and your brother play for the same team."_

"_So this is how you've been spending your time." No one noticed the quarian man standing at their shuttle until he spoke up. His suit was a plain soft white with no secondary color save for the black behind his mask._

"_Han'Gerrel! I-I'm so sorry I didn't see you."_

"_I'd like to talk with you alone." He said. The second the others stepped into the shuttle Gerrel let loose a rant he had been building for a long time._

"_We can wait as long as you need." Liara said stepping in last._

_Gerrel waited for the shuttle door to close before going off. "I supported you when Korris insisted on stripping you of your shipname. It was the least I could do. When you chose to stay on the Human's ship I understood. You were feeling alone, vulnerable and he protected you. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Leaving us, to stay with him after we reclaimed our world... for a_ human._I told myself you didn't see any options. The romanticism of war made that man look decent and respectable._

"_But to ask Raan and I to stand with you while marrying him?! It's a disgrace to our people, our way of life. The way he flaunts his status, like he earned us our homeworld. And why? To bring us into his war. A war we lost tens of thousands of our people in! You were an asset to him." Tali's body by this point had shrunk down similar to when Javik spoke to her months earlier._

"_You are an admiral with responsibilities to _your_people, not his. Come back with me now, while I can still salvage this situation."_

"_HEY!" Sonja yelled as she stepped down from the shuttle. "Don't you _dare _treat her like a child. She made a choice. Only she has to live with it good or bad. Now apologize or get the hell out of here!"_

"_I should warn you, as head of Homeworld Security I can-"_

"_I don't give a flying fuck if you're the gatekeeper to heaven or king of the whole galaxy, if you screw with my sister, you screw with me."_

"_And me." Isabella said joining her older sister._

"_Hmph. Typical mud-ape response: when confronted with something you can't understand you get violent." Ashley, Traynor and the rest of the shuttle occupants had stepped back out, in shock about the shouting match going on just outside. Several of Rayya's police had also started making discrete calls in case they needed backup._

"_I'm not the one chastising someone I call family for her choice in husband. Now like my sister here said, apologize or just walk away. Before things get unfortunate."_

"_I think they already are." Gerrel said before taking a swing at Sonja._

_She and Isabella ducked then slammed into Gerrel knocking him to the ground with a loud thud. The half dozen officers that were watching ran to Gerrel to assist him against Sonja and Isabella. The G7 Marine took the policemen and women while her freighter captain sister kept on Gerrel, offering chances for him to apologize every third or forth blow._

_The_ Normandy _crew however just stood awestruck at the brawl unfolding before them._

* * *

_'Those two are just damn insane'_ Markus thought to himself as he listened to his sisters describe what happened. He was happy they so readily defended Tali, but wasn't too pleased how they did it.

"Quit slandering the admiral!" One of the quarian security officers said. "He's a war hero!"

"He's a bigoted asshole." Sonja shot back. "And I got about a half dozen eyewitnesses who can prove that."

The officer simply humphed back.

"Jeez," Isabella said under her breath. "I thought it was only turians who had the sticks up their ass. Is this an all dextro thing now?"

"Izzie," Markus hissed with a glare. "the bail for you two is already set at 85,000 credits. Each. Please don't give them an excuse to pile on more."

"Sorry."

After signing the paperwork for them to be released including a stipulation that they were to remain out of Rayya City boundaries for the duration of their stay along with the other two major cities, the Shepards returned to the _Normandy _for dinner.

Isabella provided dinner from the small galley in her ship: spaghetti and meatballs with tomato sauce. While Isabella cooked in her own ship for the three of them, Markus made up the last of the dehydrated dextro-packs which were similar to dehydrated levo food.

While they ate, Tali kept deathly silent. She was still processing what happened with Han'Gerrel. Sonja was doing what she could by telling of some of her more amusing missions.

"So my drop pod malfunctioned dropping me into the middle of this asari monastery. The doors blow open showing me nearly a platoon's worth of Collector troops. I barely have time to grab my sniper rifle and pistol and get to cover behind a table before they open up. The chair was practically melted down into slag." That got an 'ooh' from her brother.

"So there I am, scion on my right, pinning me down and abominations coming up on the left. I tried cloaking, but the swarmers overloaded everything but the heat sinks in my guns. Then this hyuuge biotic explosion sends the abominations flying into the scion blowing it to pieces."

"Asari Justicar?" Markus asked curious as to who saved her ass.

"Volus vanguard."

"Oh big, bad marine isn't _ever_ gonna live this down." Markus said laughing, his drink nearly spilling out of his mouth.

"Says the man who fell through a fish tank."

"Hey hey hey hey! That was actually part of my evil clone's plan. No, really. It was."

After they were done Isabella went back to her own ship while Sonja crashed on one of the chairs at the poker table in the lounge. Markus and Tali left for their cabin on Deck One. Despite not doing much, he was extremely tired. Part of it was bailing his sisters out of jail, the other was a defensive instinct to avoid his needed discussion with Tali.

"Tali, there's uh, there's something we need to talk about." He couldn't lift his head let alone look at her right now. His mood was quickly becoming almost as low as hers.

"What is it? Did you finish the house?" She said with a faux mask of optimism.

"You had better sit down."

She sat down in the corner of the couch, curling up into a ball. Gerrel's words were still having a bad effect on her.

"I know this isn't the best time," He said curling up next to her. "But if I don't say this now I'm pretty sure I'll keep finding some excuse or another for the rest of my life."

She was already hugging him tightly. "What is it?"

"I've got radiation poisoning."

"What?" Tali's head shot up to look at Shepard, whose eyes were transfixed on the corner of the coffee table. He was remembering the day he saved the galaxy almost at the cost of his own life yet again.

"When I was on the Crucible, the intelligence said I had a choice. Either kill all artificial life, become in essence, a Reaper god, somehow fuse organic and synthetic life or do nothing. Our fleets couldn't keep taking the pounding and that was just Earth. The Crucible was the only way we could win: wipe out the Reapers in one fell swoop. So doing nothing was out. I didn't trust what it was saying about me taking control or synthesis so I was left with one choice. But I couldn't just murder the geth in cold blood like that."

"What happened?"

"I did what I did best: I started cutting, soldering and hacking. I overrode the energy signature to take out heavy-Reaper coding. I was already struggling to stay awake. I had lost so much blood, my hands were coated red, shining in the light like glass. It seemed to go on for, well forever. I knew what I was looking for from when we were poking around EDI's coding. Made that look like a child's picture book by comparison but I finally did it. I singled the energy to delete the programming of anything operating with more than half a million lines of Reaper code.

"The intelligence continued spouting how this was only a temporary solution, that we'd soon be threatened by artificial life. That all of this would just happen again. When it was done, I hit the switch and everything just... exploded. I was crushed by god knows how many tons of the Citadel, bleeding out from several places on my body, the only means of getting on or off the station was shut down. The only thing I could think about was you, how I let you down.

"When I awoke I was in an post-op tent somewhere in London, the city we fought through. I don't remember if it was day or night. All I knew was there was screaming everywhere, injured soldiers all around me. Anyone who could stand was helping treat those who couldn't.

"When I heard the _Normandy_ was missing, I just drifted. I didn't want to go on. It was easier just to, sleep my life away, let it just, pass on by until I died."

"But that message..."

"As much as I wanted you to be alive, it had been over four months with no word, no rumors that you survived. I just... I... when I saw you again," He turned back to Tali with a very wide grin on his face. The kind of grin that says that she's the perfect woman for him. "I felt better than I ever had. That ring I gave you, Isabella slipped me was the family ring when she pulled me aside.

His eyes went back to the table corner. "When I woke up after doctor Chakwas and EDI fixed my limbs she gave me the news. When the Crucible blew it released a radiation no one had ever seen before, Theta radiation she calls it. It doesn't spread unless there's enough of it to go off the scanners. It builds on itself, the more of it there is the faster it builds. Most of that medical cocktail she gave me was to neutralize the radiation. If she hadn't, I would have been dead a week later. But there's a catch. I need to keep taking it and prolonged exposure to some of the chemicals in it will eventually reach lethal levels."

"But- after everything you've done... how can you be dying?"

"It won't happen for a while. It'll be thirty years, maybe thirty-five. Chakwas will be able to get a better idea as the years go on."

"Markus..." She hugged him to the point where his eyes started feeling like they might burst out of his skull, then released him just as quickly. "What will... I mean when you... What will happen?"

"It causes a build up in the lungs. Shortness of breath, possible blackouts. Then, eventually, more than likely, I just won't wake up. Chakwas is looking for alternates with less damaging results but she's not too optimistic. Not that she's going to stop."

"I'm so sorry." It was all she could get out. Every time she tried to say something else she couldn't form the words.

"It's alright. I always figured I'd die face up on some rock hundreds of light-years from home after my squad made a hot evacuation or lay dead beside me. It wasn't until about a year and a half ago, when we became intimate that I started to think that maybe, somehow, I could carve a life out beyond military service."

Tali was speechless at this revelation about him.

"When we got Rannoch back, I was so sure I could get away with you. When it was all done, I'd retire and spend the rest of my life with you. I don't know how much time is really left, it might be a week, it might be thirty years from now. All I know is, if I had to do it all over again." He started coming out of his trance-like state. "I'd do it. Because you're worth it. I love you, Tali'Zorah vas Rannoch. And I don't plan on spending another day away from you, ever again."


	21. Chapter 20

**A/N:**

So first off, I would like to address the reviews by Facemelter and kill_phil (the former I explained in a PM).

Basically, Shepard's entire cell structure is infected with the radiation. The 'cure' itself that will kill him (though much slower). Since the body is intertwined, any replacement organs would become infected with the radiation so he'd have to keep taking the medication to avoid dying. Since the meds will kill him, he'd need to upload his mind to a computer then download it into a new clone body. Cloning of whole individuals is illegal by the Citadel Conventions for this very reason: a way to bypass mortality.

* * *

_I raise my flags, don my clothes  
It's a revolution, I suppose  
We'll paint it red to fit right in_

Chapter 20

Back to Work

May 9th, 2187

"Well you're looking good sunshine." Sonja said to her brother who was beaming when as he strutted through the small messhall.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." He beamed while grabbing a breakfast chow-bar.

"Mmm! Damn is this my lucky day!" He chuckled after a bite. "Bacon and eggs."

"So what ahhh!" Sonja was cut off mid-sentence by a yawn. "So what happened last night?"

"I don't kiss and tell."

"So there _was_ kissing."

"Hrn-hrn-hrn." He mocked as he swallowed the last of the chow-bar. "Shut up you overgrown Gropo."

"Worthless pirate."

"Idiot jarhead."

"Swabbie whore."

"Bitch."

"Jerk."

"Why are you two being so mean? I mean, he just got you out of jail." Tali spoke up after getting off the elevator.

"Oh don't worry about it. Just a little sibling jiving."

"Yeah. She's been like this since she was a little brat." Sonja gave a light jab into his ribs.

"As I recall, you were and _are_ the little one. Shrimpy."

"Gorilla."

"Do you two ever stop?"

"Of course." They said in unison.

"We stop when we're asleep. And when there's something serious."

"When your little brother is a serious troublemaker you tend to learn to communicate on his level since so little else gets through."

"So little got through because of your limited marine vocabulary."

Sonja stuck out her tongue in a non-verbal admit of defeat. "You're looking a lot better Tali. You feeling okay?"

Markus had given Tali his seat and began making her breakfast. "Yes. And I want to thank you and Isabella for defending me."

"No need. Shepards always look out for each other no matter what. I see how Markus looks at you, the way his eyes beam when he talks about you, it's all I need to call you my third little sister."

"Hey we've got a pair of dextro eggs. You want them?" Markus asked from the kitchen. "I think I can cook 'em pretty good."

"Lemme guess, you're just gonna throw a couple of low-level incinerates on it and call it good?" Sonja started up again.

"Please, I'm a professional." He looked at the stove for a few seconds before speaking again. "So how do I turn this thing on? Ježiš, to je neuvěřitelný, já jsem takovej debil! Si bude myslet, že jsem naprostej idiot."

His sister erupted into a laugh that nearly made her fall to the floor. "Mister big-shot, galaxy-saving, tech-genius, all-balls Markus Shepard still can't figure out how to turn on a stove after over twenty years. And for the record, you always have been one."

"Oh ha-ha. Seriously, where is the 'sunny side up' switch?"

"Nǐ yǐ dé shì gēn wǒ kāiwánxiào ba." Sonja said as she stood up to help her brother out.

"Why do you keep doing that?" Tali asked from the narrow table between medbay and the kitchen.

"Doing what?" Markus asked still trying to figure out how to turn on the stove.

"Speaking like that. My translator won't pick it up."

"Oh," He said consciously realizing for the first time that he actually spoke randomly using languages that weren't picked up by the translator.

Since the Alliance needed a common language for the personnel to read and speak, English was chosen as a majority of Earth's populace spoke it when they began to expand into the galaxy. Even so, many still spoke their native language causing many of the officers and enlisted to be fluent in three or even four languages. Most of the knowledge picked up though was curses.

"We kept jumping from base to base through our childhood so we picked up a couple more... colorful phrases from Earth's languages. There are over a thousand languages spoken among our race. We can't fit all of those in a translator and those used by non-humans."

"It's something that just sort of happens. You'll get used to it." Sonja added.

Pushing her brother aside 'politely' she began cooking the dextro eggs. "You know you'll have to cook for her at least some of the time. You can't just stand around and look pretty."

Markus pushed back taking command of the eggs being cooked in the pan. Sonja meanwhile went back to the table with Tali and began talking about what happened the night before.

* * *

"_All I know is, if I had to do it all over again, I'd do it. Because you're worth it. I love you, Tali'Zorah vas Rannoch. And I don't plan on spending another day away from you, ever again."_

"_Markus, I had no idea. Why didn't you tell me any of this?"_

"_Because I didn't want to hurt you any more and I didn't want to face it myself."_

"_You bosh'tet!" She cried smacking him as hard as she could, but in her current emotional state she couldn't get much force behind it. She was more hurt that he hadn't told her something this important. By the fifth hit she finally gave in. "Don't keep something this big from me again. Promise me."_

"_I swear sweetie. Never."_

_She removed her mask and placed it on the far side of the couch. "And I won't leave you either."_

_She brought her face up close to his, waiting for him to her a sign to proceed. Breathing in deeply, she could almost taste him, the flavor of his skin._

_After more time than either would care to admit, he moved forward pushing her onto her back against the couch. It wasn't their first time but she could still feel the goosebumps rolling up her back. Despite the butterflies, there was something about being with him like this that made her feel safe, strong._

* * *

"Okay, hold it right there." Sonja set her coffee down. "Much as I'm glad to hear you two are... you know," She said awkwardly. "I don't need to hear of my brother's escapades."

"I'm sorry. He said that you two talk about everything so I thought," She didn't need to continue for the eldest sibling to know what she meant.

"Yes we do, but we don't go that far. Don't worry about it."

"Ta-daaah!" Markus proclaimed as he set down a plate of eggs with various spices, a bowl of oatmeal and a glass of dextro fruit juice of some sort. He gave Tali a kiss on the side of her faceplate before taking a seat.

"I hope everything came out right. Can't exactly test dextro food without going into shock."

"Yeah you can Markus." Sonja said. "Go figure you wouldn't know about a medical science breakthrough. You can taste dextro food and she can taste levo-based food no problem."

Markus' head whipped to look at his sister, a look of disbelief on his face. "No way. Risking a sick stomach on the scale of a level twelve solar storm isn't something to joke about."

"You love mint with chocolate don't you?" Tali meanwhile continued eating, though at a slow pace as she was interested in what Sonja was implying.

"As much of a classic as peanut butter and grape jam."

"Well mint is dextro-based. And aside from the occasional natural allergy, similar to someone being allergic to citrus, you can eat and, for the most part, digest it no problem."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. It's just you won't get any nutrients from it. Combine that with the natural bacteria from being grown off-world. That last part is what will make you sick as a dog."

"Damn." Markus' momentary joy at the possibility of being able to sample the food he made for Tali was instantly crushed into dust. "Can you at least tell me how I did?"

"It's a little... smoky I believe the description is. There's not enough spice for how throughly the eggs were cooked."

Shepard felt dejected that his first attempt to cook for Tali resulted in, what was his mind, a complete failure.

"Don't be too hard on yourself. It's the first time you've tried cooking for me."

Sonja meanwhile just sat across from them with a slight smile on her face as she watched the young couple. "So what's on the docket for today?"

"The most boring part of building the house: choosing the colors."

"Well, when you decide on them let Amanda know. She'll probably be able to get a good discount on some high quality stuff."

"Right, she'd have a few connections what with all the work she does."

"She's the one who's the artist right?"

"Artist, philanthropist, civil rights activist, custom wood carver," Markus rambled on several of his middle sister's previous professions.

"She's a bit of a drifter. I don't think she's really stuck with one thing for two years straight. She doesn't lack for focus, just..." Sonja trailed off not wanting to speak bad about her sister.

"Just kinda impossible for her to find the right place." Markus finished Sonja's train of thought.

His omni-tool started beeping, marked as an incoming comm channel request.

"One of these days, I'm just gonna turn this thing off for a week and enjoy the silence." He said standing up to talk in the lounge more privately.

As the door closed he opened the private channel. A large red krogan appeared on the holographic screen.

"Wrex! Been a while."

"_Yeah, sorry Shepard. Couple of the clans were getting a little restless so I had to show 'em whose in charge."_

"And you enjoyed the show of force didn't you?"

"_What show? Heh-heh. I need a favor from you. There's a- ARRGH! GET DOWN!" _The camera shook violently as Wrex struggled with something or someone outside of the camera's field of vision.

"Wrex? Wrex you alright?!"

"_Yeah I'm fine. It's just your damned varren."_

"What do you mean 'my' varren? I don't have any pets."

"Tell that to Urz here. The guy has been going crazy since people started mentioning your name almost every other day here."

"Who is Ur-" Shepard's voice trailed off remembering the varren he fed before going on Grunt's right of passage.

"_So can I bring him with me? Figure you'll need a guard dog of some kind for this mansion of yours you're building."_

"Okay okay. Just let me know when you're in-system."

"_Yeah yeah."_ Wrex whispered, something unheard of from a krogan unless they were hiding from the most dangerous of predators.

"Wrex, you okay?" Shepard replied with a slight hushed voice.

"_It's Bakara. She's been, well, I don't want to talk about it."_

"She pissed at you?"

"_That's one way to put it."_

"What'd you do this time?"

"_She's pregnant. Krogan women get even more aggressive."_

"Well I'd give you some of my luck, but I don't think it'll help."

"_Yeah. Thanks."_ He closed the channel.

_'That poor, poor bastard.'_ Shepard thought to himself with a grin on his face.

_'Least I won't have to fear a pregnant Tali'_ He then started feeling bad about that particular thought.

A knock on the door nearly made him jump.

"Markus, I don't know if you're done, but Garrus is calling on the CEQ." Tali said through the door.

"Okay."

* * *

Garrus hadn't been able to get a signal off-planet for literally days. First chance he got, he needed to call in backup. The fellow Spectre Sirilia Nazados had been great to work with, but they were still only two turians. He got along with her quite well. The two of them practically thought along the same lines with the exception of her weapons: shotguns and SMGs. She liked getting up close and personal.

Shepard walked into view of the CEQ, glowing blue. _"__Heard you made Spectre. Sonja couldn't tell me what you guys were up to out there. Care to give me some inside info?"_

"Well we moved to another world since Sirilia and I replaced your sister's unit. We're on a rim system, Zintaakra."

"_Never heard of it. Newly discovered?"_

"Not really. It's been in the Council star maps for a few decades, but due to the extreme range from another relay there's been no rush to colonize it. In either case, we've been trying to track down the last of the Cerberus cells. The Alliance asked the Council for some assistance. Last thing they want is a militia of indoctrinated soldiers running around on the loose.

Shortly after the attempted coup a number of Alliance officers and C-Sec agents went missing. The Council has assigned Spectre teams to help track most of them down."

"_So who are you after?"_

"Lieutenant Commander Arjen Kirby."

"_Wait, wait, _the_Arjen Kirby, the only man who made it out of the 231st on Torfan alive?"_

"Yeah. You know him?"

"_Served with him for a few weeks on Shanxi. I shouldn't be all that surprised he turned, never had much care for non-humans. Got worse after Torfan where a third of his platoon was wiped out by mines alone. The rest were killed by the slavers. Better watch your footing closely. I mean it. I heard about him defecting, killed two MPs when they opened the door to his quarters. Had an explosive charge placed on it, the terminal he worked at and so on. After Torfan he became obsessed with explosives. Don't be surprised if he's got the inside of whatever bunker lined up with a string of improvised explosives."_

"Don't worry I will. I learned my lesson after taking that rocket to the face. Besides, Sirilia is a miracle worker at keeping us clear of them."

"_Sirilia?"_

"The turian Spectre I'm working with. She's uh... pretty amazing. I mean, she's fast. Wicked fast and we complement each other perfectly."

"_Garrus, are you falling in love?"_

"What? No. I was talking about her fighting style."

"_Uh-huh."_ He wasn't entirely convinced of Garrus' explanation, which really was the truth. Though he would admit that she was quite attractive. Her lithe frame did seem to draw his attention from time to time when they weren't being shot at. For the most part at least.

"With that information in mind, could I'm sure that making this call is the right decision."

"_And that is?"_

"He blew out half his compound to cover a retreat two days ago. Since we already blew up the other half it took this whole time to walk to a jamming tower and disable it."

"_Need a ride off-world?"_

"And to drop us off on Omega and help us hunt this guy down there."

"_Well if it was just a pick-up and drop-off I'd say no problem. I'll talk with Tali, but there's another issue: I put in for retirement so the paperwork might come through while I'm with you. Can't have a rouge ex-Alliance officer dispensing his own justice."_

"You're not the only one with Spectre authority on the _Normandy_ anymore. Remember?"

"_Good point. And I think I know who to name the new Cee-Oh. Thanks buddy."_


	22. Chapter 21

**A/N:** So no song lyrics this chapter. Couldn't find any that really fit. But hey, it's a build up to a suspense chapter. Don't really need any do we? Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 21

Laying the Groundwork

May 13th, 2187

Ashley was standing behind Joker in the _Normandy_'s CIC looking out the view port as the ship as the _Normandy _decelerated into the Sahrabarik system, home of the infamous Omega asteroid station.

She wasn't quite sure how she felt about this, being named commanding officer of the _Normandy_. The crew didn't seem to mind and Shepard agreed to take a back seat on the day-to-day. Actually, as she thought about it, the more she was sure it should have gone to someone else. She was a grunt who liked being in the thick of a fight, not behind the lines giving orders. Shepard had told her that she was the best choice for the ship since she was not only a Spectre, but still Alliance military.

_'Well, it _is_a stealth ship after all.' _She thought to herself.

"You know Commander," Joker said. Ashley had been promoted a rank up to the rank of full Commander. She and many other officers earned after the Battle of the Crucible. "Shepard used to do that on the SR-1."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. You know with you doing it too I'm starting to think there's something wrong with the back of my head. I'm not balding am I?"

She chuckled at the bad joke by her pilot. "Let me know when we're coming in to dock."

"Aye aye Commander. We should be approaching in just under an hour."

With that, she turned and went back to her cabin on Deck One. Shepard and Ashley had traded rooms. It seemed the most logical decision. She did like the room though. The new one. It didn't feel as open as the starboard lounge, but it felt more personal for some reason she couldn't explain. And having her own shower was an extra perk.

She almost pushed the button for Deck Three out of habit. It was almost 0300 hours and she was dead tired. That big queen sized bed looked very inviting.

* * *

Shepard had been up with Garrus going over the information they had on Kirby. Garrus and Siliria had been sleeping for the last two and a half Earth-standard days.

"So there's one thing I still don't understand about him." Siliria said. The three had been conversing in the gun battery where the turian Spectres had taken up house. "Why do the reports on him go back and forth on biotic abilities?"

They had also decided to converse there rather than another place in the ship due to the sensitive nature of the mission. Nobody would spill, but Omega had more ears on it than the most interrogation rooms.

"Well that's the funny thing about human biotics, they're a little more unstable. Even with the implants, he doesn't have enough natural nodules in his tissue to use his biotic abilities reliably. You see the locations of the reports?"

"Why, what's special about them?"

"Starships, orbital habitats," He said counting on his fingers. "Asteroid stations and so on."

"You're saying that the charge running through the deck plates is enough to allow him to use his biotics?"

"Bingo, so use of disruptor rounds to take him isn't an option. It'll hurt like hell yes, but it'll boost his abilities."

"And since none of us are biotic I take it you don't think it's a good idea."

Shepard snapped his finger, pointing at Garrus. "Bingo."

Sirilia asked the question that was on their minds but neither man wanted to say out loud. "If he's such a risk to transport, should we even consider taking him alive?"

Garrus looked to his old friend for a lead. "He's one of yours Shepard. What's your call?"

Shepard sighed. He didn't like making decisions like this. "I think... she's right. It's too risky to try and arrest Kirby. It'll also send a message to the rest of the remaining Cerberus cells to keep their noses clean."

Sirilia scoffed at the notion. "They've been dirty since day one."

"With what happened on Akuze, I guess I can't argue that."

"What does Cerberus have to do with Akuze?" Sirilia asked.

"Guess Garrus didn't tell you; Cerberus was responsible for my unit being sent to Akuze for humanity's first encounter with thresher maws. They didn't target me specifically, just unfortunate and acceptable losses." There was a small flame of anger burning in his eyes as he talked about it. He made sure that those responsible were put on trial but what he really wanted was to put a bullet through their heads.

"They jammed our comms to the cruiser we had in orbit thanks to sabotage on the ship itself, and a bribe to one of the men in my unit to sabotage the vehicles' lines. After that, all they had to do was wait for them to attack us." He gave a slight, quick head shake snapping himself out of it. "Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it Shepard." Garrus understood his friend's tick all too well.

"_Shepard,"_ EDI said over the intercom. _"__We are approaching Omega. ETA is in ten minutes."_

"Understood. Williams and I will get armored up."

"Shepard!" Sirilia stood up angry, an emerald blaze burned in her eyes as she spoke to Shepard. "This is _our_ assignment, not yours. Garrus asked for your help on this one because you're good, but by no means does this mean either of us will simply step back."

Shepard replied with a calmness in his voice. "I understand your feeling Spectre Nazados. But Kirby is extremely anti-alien. It'll be difficult enough keeping collateral to a minimum going in with a human team. If he sees a pair of turian Spectres, he'll start killing people left and right to get out."

She waited a moment before speaking again. "Fine, you get lead, but we should be there too."

"Alright, sniper rifles, keep a few dozen meters back as best you can."

"And a side arm." She amended.

"Of course! I'd be disappointed if you didn't bring one."

* * *

Ashley ordered the _Normandy _be parked a few thousand meters off of Omega behind a large asteroid. She thought it'd be best to keep the ship's official presence quiet.

Shepard was in the cockpit running the preflight. The mission was deemed 'Spectre only' to avoid any trouble from the Omega docks. "This is former-Admiral Shepard. I wish to thank you for flying Spectre Stellar Shuttles. Please keep all arms and legs inside until the vessel has come to a full, complete stop and the doors have opened revealing a habitable atmosphere. Please secured all weapons and explosives as this vessel does travel through a vacuum and a breach would suck, quite literally. Our in-flight entertainment will be awkward silence followed by bad attempts at small talk. Should anyone require anything to eat, drink or to use the restroom, you should have done so already. Estimated time to arrival is twenty-five to thirty-six minutes."

Garrus and Ashley grinned through the whole little speech while Sirilia just rolled her eyes at his humorous imitation of the airline pilots from Earth's 20th and early 21st century.

When the UT-47 Kodiak shuttle came into one of Omega's smaller docking bays. A batarian tried to have them register the shuttle in the docking bay but was silenced by four Spectre badges being shown to him with four pistols being pointed at his head, chest and two at his legs.

Garrus and Sirilia waited just on the inside of the habitat section of Omega. Five red armored Talon mercenaries approached the Spectre squad less than thirty seconds. The Talons there consisted of two turians, a human and a batarians Shepard recognized after a second.

"Commander Shepard." The Batarian said. "Guess I'm still unlucky; left my autograph book in my apartment."

The two shook hands heartily. "Hello again Bray. Still running crap guard assignments?"

"Something like that. Aria is going to want to talk with you."

"Shepard, how do you know this guy? He's a merc." Ashley said.

"You remember the couple of days I took off doing a solo investigation on the Lazarus cell?"

"Of course. Hackett put us on the front lines during that time."

"Aria wanted me to spearhead the recapture of Omega." He turned back to Bray and continued."Bray here was one of her top men, though I do believe she intended to kill you at one point. I take it she changed her mind."

"Not entirely. She still threatens to kill me at least once a solar day. And if I don't get you to her quickly she probably will this time."

"Then by all means, lead the way."

As the group made their way to Aria, Garrus could clearly see that Omega was just about as seedy as it ever was, homeless passed out or possibly laying dead in the streets, drunken bar patrons pissing in corners thinking they're being discrete, drug deals going on in plain sight and an asari blowing a guy in the shadows (at least he assumed it was a man). It was still full of people kicking the shit out of each other. As much as he wanted to come back permanently, the thought of another incident like the one with Sidonis came to the front of his mind: another squad hoping to do the right thing dead, a coward sacrificing his friends to save his own life and him lying in a pool of his own blood only centimeters from death.

No. As much as he wanted he couldn't go through it again.

* * *

When the group reached Afterlife it looked as if nothing had changed, and if any of them could hear anything accurately over the booming music, it would almost certainly sound the exact same. Aria herself was still in her 'throne room' just under the VIP section.

"Shepard, what an unexpected pleasure. What the hell do you want?" Aria said. When the group stopped on the landing below her.

"Charming as ever Aria. I can't believe you haven't gotten yourself a hubby yet." Shepard replied, smirking when he finished.

If anyone else had said that an impromptu execution would have taken place for breaking the first and only rule of Omega: don't fuck with Aria. But Shepard got a little leeway thanks to his work reclaiming Omega for her.

"I'll say this again, what do you want? And make it quick. I'm having a bad day."

"Very well then." Shepard keyed up his omni-tool and pulled up a file image of Kirby.

"I need information on this man here, his name is Arjen Kirby. Alliance has him currently at the top of their shit-list. According to intel, he came here after blowing up his previous compound."

"Give me one reason why I should care."

"How the guy is an anti-alien xenophobe, member of Cerberus and in an unnatural love with using IEDs. You really want this guy running around here? He's an infiltrations specialist. I'd lay odds that he's already put something around here within fifty meters."

"Son of a bitch." She cursed. He'd already started causing trouble here.

"I take it he's made a few waves since coming here."

"That's one way to put it. This bad mood I'm in, he's the reason for it. Nearly two hundred were killed over the last three days in a string of explosions. One of the bodies was Patriarch. Until now, I thought someone was just wanting to send a message."

"So how about we work together and get this bastard off your station quick before it gets higher."

"Fine. What do you need from me?"

"Just an order to the mercs 'round here to follow our orders. Don't worry, we won't use them as cannon fodder."

"So what exactly is you plan?"

"I don't feel like discussing the specifics openly. But let's just say it's the same reason for your paranoia in Purgatory. Oh, and I'll be borrowing your command center on E deck." She shot Shepard a rather nasty look at the thought of handing something over to him.

"Don't worry, it'll be temporary and you'll have it back without any new scratches on it." He reassured her.

"Fine. I'll have the leaders of the Blue Suns, Eclipse and the Talons meet you there. The Blood Pack was pushed out by the Suns and the Talons two months ago so they won't be of use."

"Thank you Aria." Shepard said walking away. He signaled the others to follow him.

* * *

Tali had been pacing in the cockpit since Shepard's Spectre squad left the _Normandy_ over five hours ago. He promised her he'd be careful, but there was a knot in her gut that told her this mission wouldn't end well.


	23. Chapter 22

Hey you, are you trying to be mean?  
If you live with apes man, it's hard to be clean

Chapter 22

The Other Shoe

It had been eight hours since Shepard had 'enacted' the first stage of his plan: wait. Something that Sirilia hated almost as much as death itself. To her, being still was the same thing as being dead. It was what her instructor had drilled into his recruits in basic. "Any soldier that isn't moving is a corpse". It was his mantra, and thusly was her own.

What made it even worse was the humans wanted to "get to know her". They kept asking questions, about where she grew up, how she became a Spectre. The only thing the soldier next to you needed to know was how you fight so you don't bite their bullet.

She stopped pacing around the command center, turning her yellow eyes to Shepard. "What are we doing here?" She demanded.

Though he was calm, Shepard had answered the question at least twice an hour. "We're waiting for a confirmed sighting of Kirby. That's what I told you when we started, that's what I told you five minutes ago. So five minutes from _now_ when you ask me, 'what are we doing here', my answer's still gonna be 'we're waiting for a sighting of Kirby'. Understood?"

Sirilia growled and continued her pacing. She loathed sitting around like this.

* * *

To a certain extent, Shepard could understand her frustration. Turians by nature were assertive, Spectres even more so. Understanding her situation was no problem, her constant badgering however was getting on his nerves. The impression he had been given was she was a solo-wing Spectre, one who went straight for the guns to get the job done.

Ashley managed to get some interesting information out of her, most notable of which was she grew up in the same city as Garrus. On the other side of it, but cosmically speaking, they were neighbors. But that did bring up the question of why her facial markings were white to Garrus' blue. He knew that turians painted their face to show the world they grew up on and that it changed from colony to colony. But color? Maybe it was something to do with personal tastes.

Re-focusing his attention to the eight monitors in front of him, he strained his eyes looking for someone who might fit Arjen Kirby's build and facial features. After meeting with the gang leaders the word had been spread to keep an eye out for Kirby. Keep an eye out, but not to engage. Rather to report to the leader who would then inform the command center. The cost of the cooperation though had come to a sum of 10,000 credits being wired into the Blue Suns and Eclipse leaders' private accounts along with another 20k should one of their people be the one to find him. Bray meanwhile had merely asked for the public attention once Kirby was eliminated.

Shepard hadn't taken off his Blood Dragon armor since they boarded the station. It wasn't exactly inconspicuous, but it covered his face and he wasn't allowed to wear Alliance armors since he was now technically retired. Ashley was on one side of the command room where she was fine-tuning her S7 Defender armor which sported an ocean blue stripe in place of the N7's red.

Garrus meanwhile was on the other side, all four sniper rifles, two Krysae and two Black Widows, laid out in front of him in various states of disrepair as he attempted to reduce the recoil without sacrificing any of the stopping power. His silver and blue trimmed armor was a near mirror of Sirilia's Terminus Assault which was coated in black and an exotic glowing orange trim. The sides of the face plate had been extended out to account for her mandibles.

As he laid down on the cot he ran through a mental checklist of everything he had done or needed to do. Sonja had agreed to house-sit for him. By now Wrex and Urz had arrived and had volunteered to help. Isabella had left with the _White Raven_. She still needed to keep her crew fed and help get supplies across the galaxy. There were only a small handful of non-military ships to help with people and supplies. Sonja had agreed to stay at least a kilometer away from Gerrel so he hoped that there wouldn't be any problems. Wrex hadn't hadn't been around Gerrel many times so they hadn't had time to get on each others' nerves. With the incident that happened though, it may not take much should they start getting into it.

He knew Bray would keep the Talons in line, make sure that none of them tried to take Kirby on their own. And with the roll they played in retaking Omega from Cerberus he knew they could follow orders. The Blue Suns and Eclipse however were a complete unknown. The little knowledge he had on the gang's leaders was useless since it was the lieutenants who were operating on Omega. From the brief meeting he had with the lieutenants, it seemed they were sure that he'd try and arrest or kill them all as soon as his mission was finished.

Tali had been checking in every half hour. Despite telling her that he was fine, he could feel it too. Something was wrong. Despite being as inconspicuous as possible and bunkered in the most secured place on Omega, he felt like they had walked them right into a trap as time went on.

His omni-tool pinged with another incoming transmission on a secured line. _'Right on time'_ Shepard thought as he turned the omni-tool on.

* * *

"Shepard, how are thing?" Tali asked. She couldn't explain it, but she knew things were about to go very bad very fast. Of course, she had been having that feeling for the last 8 hours.

"_Same as before."_

"So no one has seen him?"

"_No, not yet. But there's still quite a bit left and banging on doors right now isn't a good idea."_

"I just... don't think it's a good idea for you to stay there."

"_You want me to promise to be careful?"_ He asked.

"Could you?"

"_I promise sweetie. And don't worry, I got Garrus and Ash watching after me. We'll be fi- ohhh, da-shiang bao-tza shr duh lah doo-tze!" _She could hear an alarm of some kind going off on his end of the channel.

"_I gotta go."_ He quickly said and closed the channel. His face was replaced by a glowing orange screen before she could say anything.

She stood there for a minute, then called Cortez then James on her omni-tool, running for the elevator nearly knocking one of the ship's crew members on their butt as she ran.

* * *

"We'll be fi- ohhh, da-shiang bao-tza shr duh lah doo-tze!" A warning klaxon started screaming in the control room. He didn't know the specifics of it, but given the fog-horn style of it the only way it could get worse is an entire army started blasting at the doors.

"I gotta go." He closed the channel and ran to the controls in the center of the room.

Sirilia was already there.

"The air is being sucked out of the room!" She said. "Full decompression in under two minutes."

Her helmet was deploying from her chest armor. Garrus, Ashley and Shepard were quickly following suite. The thin air was all the encouragement they needed.

"_Well, well, well."_ A gravely human voice said over the command center's sound system.

The scarred man's face appeared on a holographic projector in the center of the CIC causing the entire Spectre squad to jump. A four foot holographic image of Arjen Kirby's face had replaced the hologram layout of Omega. Though still only showing orange and reds, they could see the greying hair Kirby had as well as a large scar across his nose and from the middle of his right jaw running all the way up to his hairline. Both wounds he had received during hand-to-hand with batarians on Torfan. His left ear was missing. The result of a nearby mine detonating.

_"_Looks like they're really bringing out the big guns to deal with me. I'm honored. Also severely disappointed. I mean __come ON__! All you needed was a guy delivering pizzas to you to be more of a walking cliche. Oh and I see you brought your pet mongrel with you! You know I was going to send you a message Shepard. They've been bad. Very, very bad. Yes that's bad birds. Do you know just how many of my men they've killed? Why, it's almost like this is personal or something."__

Shepard needed to defuse the tension and find some way to get them out. The metaphorical front door, back door and windows would all likely be set to explode soon as one of them opened.

Shepard stepped 'forward'. In truth it was only about a half-step forward but it was enough to get his attention.

"Come on Kirby, I understand what you're going through but you went too far. This is only going to end one way so just make it easy on yourself; stop waiting for the other shoe to drop."

_"Wow. You get that out of the interrogator's field manual? I mean, it's like you were reading it word for fucking word! You ever think about teaching? I mean, you're a pretty shitty intelligence operative. Caught in a surprise attack and spaced? Tsk-tsk. Betting that little diddy cost you a few years pay. Ohhh waait. It did."  
_

"And it seems you're even more psychotic than before." All he needed was to distract Kirby long enough for his omni-tool to charge to full power.

_"Me? Nah. I just follow the orders I'm given. And right now, the orders are to eliminate you. Have been for a while. I figured I'd bruise your little spiky protege here and he'd come running to you. Now if it were me, I would have just rigged the landing pad to blow taking you and your little squad out when you landed but the powers that be say they want this looking like an accident."  
_

Shepard checked the power levels as discretely as he could. "You know, I'd love to continue this conversation a little longer, but I'm afraid you're out of time Arjen." It had fully charged.

_"No Shepard, you're the one whose out of time. Besides, this is so boring. You're not even _trying_ to figure out my evil plans. See ya."_ Shepard hit the activation button on his omni-tool as fast as he could, praying that he was just a hair's breath quicker.

* * *

**A/N:**

I'm back in college, so the updates will likely drop down to once a month. This estimate is a guess based off of last year. Classes start Monday and I'll have a better idea of what the update rate might be by the end of next week. Hopefully, I can have something good done by Halloween.


	24. Chapter 23

**A/N:**

Okay, I just realized I forgot to do this on the previous chapter, but to answer _kill_phil_'s question on why disruptor rounds might cause a surge in biotic power. It has to do with how the biotics work. The shorthanded answer, is that when eezo becomes electrically charged dark matter energy around the source becomes malleable. Combining the natural charge in the deck plates with the enhanced electrical charge of a disruptor round could, _in theory_, strengthen a biotic's abilities for a short time.

* * *

Up from the depths of the bottomless pit

Then it's out of the frying pan and into the shit

Get your team ready cause we're comin' in hot

Chapter 23

From Bad...

The entire room had turned as dark as a tomb, and with the lack of air outside their armor, that's exactly what it felt like to Ashley. Her HUD was dead, the lights, even the gravity was off as evident by their floating a few inches off the floor.

"What happened?" She asked.

Garrus said something. She could hear a deep voice and a slight flanging effect but she couldn't make out any words.

"What?" She said.

His response was just as muffled as before.

"Garrus," She yelled this time. "I can't hear what you're saying. Speak louder!"

Garrus spoke more loudly this time, loud enough for her to hear him clearly but she couldn't understand what he was saying. "Evo mon itellenvas. Arin mod ek omiurian con traslakaor."

"Forget it Ash." Shepard said from the darkness. "I set an EMP off. Everything is dead. Our translators, omni-tools, my limbs... the air recyclers. Best keep to shallow breaths."

Shepard repeated the message in broken Turian to Garrus and Sirilia.

* * *

Shepard stumbled along for a few seconds before he started talking to himself in his head. _'Oh I am a special kind of idiot.' _He had less than half an hour of usable air to work with.

He pulled out an old-fashioned glow-stick and cracked it with his right hand. The left was stuck in a clawed grip that his hand habitually went to when he activated his omni-tool. In addition to that, his leg felt heavy in the armor. They'd need to get to a crawlway, get out and he'd need to replace the micro-servos and power source.

It took the yellow-green stick a full minute and a half to reach full illumination. Since it ran on a chemical reaction it was unaffected by the EMP.

With the new light source, Shepard made his way to a wall and began knocking on the panels. 'Where is it? Where is it? Where IS it?!'He thought to himself as he went along, knocking one by one. The last time he was here Nyreen had used one of the passageways to slip away from Aria. This time around, he was hoping he could slip away from Kirby.

Reminding himself to keep calm or risk loosing oxygen quicker, Shepard continued on as collected as he could. This of course, was a tricky task under most circumstances. He was a little hyperactive by nature, always needing to be doing something. Now, he was for all intents and purposes, sitting blind in the dark while a madman hunted him.

'Just keep moving and you'll find it.'He thought to himself over and over again to keep himself calm.

Finally, after twelve intolerably long minutes, one of the panels echoed with a joyous 'BWOON'. Sirilia moved to tear it off the wall before Shepard could even get out of the way.

* * *

"Tali, for the third time, if I try to push the engines any harder we'll fly into one of these asteroids." Cortez said from the pilot's seat of the UT-47 Kodiak shuttle. The quarian had repeatedly told him to go faster but he was already pushing it more than most pilots could even handle.

"I know, I know." She repeated to his side.

There had barely been enough time to grab the guns and armor from the locker before Tali insisted on taking off, now James had to put his armor on inside the cramped shuttle while it dodged rocks the size of mansions.

"You are doing all you can," Javik said from the back trying to give the human soldier plenty of room to work. "Now let the pilot do his job."

"Fine." She sighed. "Still don't know why you even bothered to come. You don't care about either of us." She said more quietly.

"In my cycle, it was among the most serious offenses to let a comrade die through intentional inaction. Shepard freed me from my tomb, gave me hope that the Reapers would be vanquished and let my people rest. As you would say, 'how could I not?'."

"You finally warming up to us Bugsy?" James said as he rotated the armor on his right shoulder to situate correctly.

Javik defended himself quickly from the potential implication. "I would not go that far. You are all still primitive, but there are a fewexceptions."

"Thanks, I think?"

"Do not be proud. You are not among them."

"Whatever you say Bugsy. Whatever you say."

Tali still couldn't keep herself from jumping around like a nervous animal. "How long until we get there?" The polarized screen was filled with Omega's silhouette, but given it's size they could still easily be over a dozen kilometers away. They had finally stopped dodging asteroids but it didn't help her.

"About three minutes. I could bring it to two but we'd have to blow the front doors open with the Normandy's main guns." Cortez said. She couldn't understand how he was staying so calm through this.

_"__That will not be necessary. I have already reserved a docking space and instructed the control VI to begin opening the doors."_

"Thanks EDI." Cortez said. He glued his eyes to the screen as he flipped the Kodiak 180º degrees. The craft continued traveling at its top speed with the pilot's hand stuck firmly on the throttle.

"Hold on tight!" He said right before slamming the accelerator forward, twisting the joystick in multiple directions. The shuttle lurched, bobbed and spun its way into a slot between a pair of skycars that looked like they'd be of more value being sold as scrap metal than their intended function.

The door swung open and Cortez moved to the weapons locker. "Go get Shepard!" He yelled but the rescue team had already bolted. "I'll keep the shuttle ready in case we need to get out in a hurry!"

* * *

Arjen was furious! That self-righteous prick had cut him off! The explosives he had placed weren't working though he was sure he knew the reason why: EMP. Shepard had likely fried a quarter of the district. Now he was stuck in a small room with no oxygen and no suit recyclers. And he couldn't watch him die!

He kicked a nearby table over in rage. "I'M GONNA CARVE A SIGIL INTO THAT ASSHOLE'S SKULL WITH HIS OWN ARMOR! I'm gonna butcher his pet's little chew toy and make them both watch, then I'm gonna-" His rant was interrupted by a ping on his omni-tool. Part of him wanted to tear it out of his arm, but maybe it was good news. The power could have come back on, someone could be giving him a new target to go after (though he hated leaving the job unfinished. He hadn't collected a trophy yet), or any number of things to re-brighten his day.

What it he saw made him happier than he could have imagined.

"This, this right here is why I loooveworking families over. Just so predictable! Oh!" He started squirming around in joy. He had placed small cameras near the docks with a facial recognition program to alert him if anyone from Shepard's crew tried to save him. Now there were four new players and one of them was a pilot all on his own.

"Ohhh, this is gonna be so much fun."

* * *

"Okay Tali, where do we start?" James said.

"How about you refer to someone who can actually track. Stupid primitive." Javik said. He placed a hand on the ground. His face began contorting, uncomfortably so. After several seconds he stood back up.

"I believe I have found him. He is some distance away, but alive as are the others."

"Well get us there now."

"As opposed to later? I still do not understand the necessity you have to state the obvious."

"Move it before I pound you into the ground Bugsy." James said with a slight growl. No one officially knew he and Ash were seeing each other. No one aside from Cortez that is. That information had been pried out of him after Shepard's Welcome back/Happy Birthday/congratulations on the engagement party with an additional bottle of "quality" moonshine of Jack's.

He couldn't explain why he was so nervous. Ashley could more than take care of herself and she was with Shepard and Garrus. But something was still chewing him up on the inside. Something that was telling him he needed to find her five minutes ago. _'Must be like what Sparks is going through'_

"Are you going to stand there or do you two wish to find your mates?!" Javik yelled.

_'How the he—ohh right.'_ He had forgotten about the Prothean's ability to read a person. After the game of football they played, Javik likely knew more about their relationship that he did. That little thought though didn't help since Ashley had become a little distant since she took command of the ship.

"I do not know precisely where he is. I suggest we talk with the asari 'Aria T'Loak'. "

"Then let's move." James said. "Modify your rounds to heavy stunners. If pendejos gets in our way, shoot them."

"What if it's Markus or one of the others?"

"That's why we're using stun rounds. Better for them to get over a headache than a bullet."

* * *

It took some work, but Garrus and Sirilia had managed to pull off the metal plate. If any of their equipment was still working, Shepard could have just cut through the whole thing in less than five seconds. Manually pulling however had taken nearly 10 minutes leaving the turians with what Shepard guestimated, was less than 50% of their O2.

Motioning for Ashley to climb in last, Shepard took lead. His metal arm wouldn't be of much conventional good, but he could still beat against a wall like a drunk krogan warlord.

When they finally climbed out, the first thing each of them did was tear their helmets off. Shepard then asked a bum sitting next to them if he had a smoke.

"Shepard, seriously?" Ashley scolded. "We nearly suffocate in there after a murderer tracks us down and the first thing you do is grab a smoke? I thought you quit."

He took a deep inhale before responding. "Special circumstances." He said letting the vapor roll out of his mouth.

* * *

The turian sniper had been getting anxious. He had gone too long without communications from his superior. Assigned to watch a grate and wait for the infamous Shepard? It was nothing more than a bullshit race thing_. __'If a turian killed a human, no big deal. Still plenty of us pissed about Shanxi right? Spirits this sucks'_

He was surprised when the Commander crawled out along with another human and two turians. The female though, she was quite the looker. He could barely make out her facial markings, but the looked to be from Palaven. He zoomed in closer to get a look at her eyes. A beautiful, florescent yellow. It somehow complemented her facial markings and off-brown-gray skin tone.

"This is Sius." He said into his headset.

"I see them. So I get to take the shot right?" He hadn't expected to, but part of him actually wanted to shoot the humans and silver armored turian, then go in and save the woman. Risking your life to save a stranger was a massive turn on for turian women but was tricky when theywere the ones being saved.

_"__Negative."_ His operator replied_. __"__Just tell me what he's doing."_

"He bummed a smoke off some deadbeat and now he's just standing there."

_"__Let me know which direction he goes then return to to base."_

When a turian growled, the flanging effect made it as terrifying as a krogan's growl. Sius begrudgingly confirmed his operator's request.

"Hold on, looks like he's moving..." He paused, making sure he knew which direction they were going. Screwing up here would likely end up in a sniper pointing a rifle at his own head, then finishing his job. "He's heading towards the Kima district."

_"__Good. Now tear down. Leave no trace of your existence there and return for further orders."_

This. Sucked.

"Fine, but I'm demanding 20% more for this." The would-be assassin disassembled his rifle and tucked the parts into his clothes, tossed the food boxes in the building's incinerator and left.

_'Maybe he'll still let me take the shot.'_ He hopefully thought to himself as he left the building passing less than two feet from the galaxy's biggest hero and his entourage.

* * *

**A/N:  
**

My second year of college and I'm still loving it. Don't love the debt, but I recommend it to anyone considering it. You get to meet some awesome people, learn about so many things in off-topic conversations during a group discussion... just, so SO awesome. And I'm also surprised I managed to write this whole thing in just one sitting.


	25. Chapter 24

_Free fall drop down, whens it gonna stop?_  
_Sun's gonna rise but for you there's no dawn_  
_Run all you want but you'll be dyin' with your boots on_

Chapter 24

To Worse

Shepard and the squad had been sitting in the abandoned base with the rest of the team for over half an hour. Garrus had been on edge since they arrived. It was the hideout from when he was Archangel.

Ash and Sirilia were on edge too, but none of it came close to how badly Garrus was pacing around. Shepard asked Ash and Sirilia to keep an eye on the perimeter.

He and Garrus meanwhile were in the old sleeping quarters, the same place where he took a rocket to his face and where his decent into revenge began. Shepard had barely managed to pull him out of it.

"Why are we here Shepard?" He finally asked. He hadn't said a word since he figured out where they were going.

Shepard however was focused on his arm, trying to make it serviceable again. He had replacement power cells and old fashioned hand tools to make the repairs. "Because it's one of the few areas I know on this can and it's defensible. I know you don't like it, but we need somewhere safe. I didn't know the area around the bunker and we almost paid for it with our lives. I won't make the same mistake again."

He closed the panel and tried moving his arm but nothing happened. Giving it a quick, firm smack he tried again but still nothing. "Could you hand me that power cell? The green glowy one."

The turian slammed the cell down on the table next to Shepard's arm.

"Can you trust me on something Garrus?"

"On what?"

"This place, there's no reason for you to hate it. I know you want to burn it down to the ground and never come back but it won't help."

"And how do you know that?"

"Because a day or so after I got you the wife of one of your men sent me a message. She said you blamed yourself for what happened, but she said he was proud of the work he did. You were giving them all hope, reclaiming it for the _people_ who lived in this piss-soaked district and all the others."

"And I got them all killed."

"You still aren't getting it!" He tightened the clamps inside the arm down and tested its usability. Unfortunately, it still wasn't working; his wrist wouldn't bend, fingers wouldn't close. The oddest thing was, since the arm had been rendered a glorified paperweight, he could feel massive tingling all down his arm and into his hand and fingers. He didn't need to be a genius to know what it was. Phantom limb syndrome.

He reopened the arm, pulled the cell out and began making tweaks on the connections.

"We all die in the end Garrus. Here's the one lesson I've learned about death: it doesn't matter who you were. What only matters is what you leave behind."

"So my legacy is helping good people die horribly."

"You gave them hope that it might make things better. Your task force for the the Hierarchy, it wasn't much different. Working on guesswork plans against an enemy that had superior numbers and tech? You never quit."

He grunted some kind of response but Shepard could understand what he said.

"You did the right thing." He told him with a dead-set certainty. "And I'd be willing to bet, that your men would the same thing and that it was worth it."

He put one last tightening twist on the micro-screw before returning the power cell into its socket. Retesting his arm he had most of the dexterity back. The digits were a little stiff but it was certainly better than before. But then again almost anything would have been an improvement.

"Maybe," Garrus said. "But how can you be sure?"

"You just... have to have a little faith in yourself. More of that world of gray stuff."

"Never have been good with gray."

"Little confession just between us? Neither have I. But in our line of work you tend to find a way to get used to it."

"Shepard... I, thank you. You've always been there for me and I don't think I ever told you how much it meant to me."

"Of course." He said brushing it off as a casual thanks. "If you're up for it, I've got quite a favor I'd like to ask you for the wedding."

* * *

The rescue group had arrived at the Afterlife club which was had its usual long line of potential guests wanting to get in. The elcor bouncer side stepped into their way preventing them from entering.

"With tired annoyance. Get to the end of the line like the others. You will have to wait your turn."

"Get out of my way." Tali said. "I have business with Aria."

"I suggest you listen to her." James said. "She's not in a good mood right now."

"Dismissive. I do not care what mood your companion is in. With pride. No one gets past me unless I say so."

"We do not have time for this." Javik threw a lift field around the lumbering elcor lifting him into the air.

"Extremely terrified. This is unnatural. Put me down. Now. Attempting to regain composure. Who do you think you are?"

"Open. The door." Javik said. "Or I will throw you into traffic and let nature take its course."

"In shamed defeat. Okay. Okay. Just put me down. Realizing implications. Gently."

Tali and James headed in to Afterlife as Javik lowered the elcor back to the ground slowly, though not as slowly as the walking tank would have preferred.

"Angrily. If you do that again, I will have you killed. I know people."

Tali and James were stopped by one of Aria's guards at the base of her lofty perch.

"Sorry little one." The guard said to Tali. "Strippers already left twenty minutes ago."

James immediately threw his large fist into the turian sending him into the wall. "Go! I'll keep 'em off you." The turian's companions were already moving to support their wounded friend.

A batarian tried to get between Tali an Aria but a blow to his groin with her shotgun sent him tumbling down the stairs. She deployed Chitika who guarded the other side of the stairs while James knocked down one guard after the other.

Aria's biotics were flaring giving her already pissed off appearance an even more aggressive impression. "Who the fuck do you think you are?"

"Tell me where Markus is."

She slammed Tali against the opposing wall with a throw. Her shotgun fell away.

"I asked you a question bitch. What the fuck are you doing screwing up my club?"

The quarian remained quiet, a determined look in her eyes. What Aria couldn't see was Javik leaping up behind the self-proclaimed ruler.

Tali moved her head to the side as Javik slammed Aria's face into the wall. With her focus disrupted the field holding Tali against the wall collapsed returning her to the world of gravity. Javik threw Aria back knocking her against the stairs then biotically slammed her against the celling, floor and both support pillars by the stairs.

"You will answer our questions or I will remove your spine and strangle you with it." Javik said. He was holding her against the wall just as she had done to Tali a few moments ago.

Most of the Afterlife patrons had either run away screaming or been knocked out. The few who remained were cowering under whatever cover they could, mostly tables or behind the bar.

"You're Shepard's crew aren't you." Aria said as more fact than question. Few people would even think about trying to do something like this. Fewer still would try to go through with it. No one had tried since the early days of her rule after usurping Patriarch.

"Where is he?"

"Last I heard he was on E deck. Don't know where he is now since there haven't been any massive explosions. Try following that. Now get the hell out of my club." Javik released her though not as gently as he had done with the elcor.

The group left out the back as quietly as they could and sneaked out into the dingy Omega streets.

"So Aria hasn't bothered to keep tabs on Shepard for almost half the day?" James said as they ducked into a small alcove to speak privately. It was a hovel that reeked of urine and vomit. Tali was thankful for her suit's option to shut off the olfactory senses. "I don't like it. Doesn't fit with what I know of her. She has eyes and ears _everywhere_ on this station."

"I remember Shepard talking about his mission with Aria; how he helped her take the station back. He said the bunker was all but impenetrable."

"So if something went wrong where would he go?"

"I believe I know." Javik said in a whisper. "Shepard holds a strong emotional connection to two places here. One linked to the salarian who cured the genophage, the other to the turi—to Vakarian. Both are unpleasant for him but he might use them for a temporary refuge."

"Which is it?"

"If I knew for sure I would tell you."

"Close like that only counts if you've got horseshoes or hand grenades Javik." James shot back. "EDI, can you get us any information on Shepard's previous missions here?"

"_Processing now."_ The AI said over an encrypted communications line. _"__There are two locations that Shepard might use as Javik suggested. The first was a clinic run by Mordin in Gozu district. It is currently being run by Mordin's assistant Daniel. No last name on file. If any of them were injured it would be a likely location to go to."_

"Okay, and the other?"

"_The other is on the other side of the station in the Kima district. Shepard found Garrus under attack with the rest of the former vigilante squad killed. He, Jacob and Miranda held off three mercenary groups before performing an emergency medical evacuation after Garrus was injured by a missile nearly impacting Garrus."_

"I remember Shepard talking about what happened. Garrus was still in bad shape when they found me. He was so focused on killing Sidonis. He was... it was like he was a different person."

"EDI, you said that Shepard and Garrus held off three whole gangs there?"

"_That is correct."_

"Then that's where he is. He'd pick somewhere dependable where he knew the terrain. He said it was rule number 18: when hunted try for home field advantage. EDI, find us the fastest route there."

"_I would recommend travel by skycar or shuttle. Travel by foot would take more than forty minutes."_

"Got it." He opened a line to Cortez. "Esteban, we're coming in. EDI will have coordinates. Shuttle still ready?"

The message was responded to with static. "Esteban? Esteban, can you hear me?"

Still nothing. "Cortez! Come in."

"_James, I'm no longer reading lieutenant Cortez's subcutaneous ID tracker."_

"Mierda!" He wanted to go back for Cortez, but he couldn't just abandon Shepard and Ash. But splitting up to go after both of them was just short of insane in this place.

* * *

"Shepard! We got incoming." Ashley yelled from the ground floor of their 'defended' position. She saw six mercs in yellow armor. "Looks like Eclipse."

One of them fired a sniper round hitting the wall a few centimeters from her head.

"And it looks like they're pissed."

"_Let them get closer. We'll need whatever ordinance we can get from them."_

"I'll try but-" Another round flew by her head. "But it looks like they're wanting to keep at range for now."

"_Yeah I see 'em. Don't think my omni-tool can hit them at range. Not without a few more patches."_

"I'll hold them off Shepard. Don't worry."

"_This is Sirilia, move up and give you some assistance."_

"No! If you leave they'll be able to flank us. I can do this. Just try and hold your position as long as you can!"

An SMG burst ricocheted off the wall behind her. _'Oh I hope I made the right call...'_


	26. Chapter 25

_Hurricane's comin' better pack your shit up  
Lost in the storm and you're runnin out of luck  
Fight for your life as you breathe your last breath_

Chapter 25

The Best Way Out...

Shepard slammed a salarian with his foot knocking him out of the window sill into the street below. The mercenaries had long given up trying to take Shepard and his squad out with long range and opted to try hand-to-hand. Something they were very quickly paying the price for it. Two humans grabbed Shepard as an asari pulled her pistol.

A purple explosion tore out of the right side of her head as a sniper round bore through her killing the merc. Her death reflex squeezed the trigger on her M-3 killing the merc on Shepard's right. With his free hand he struck the other with a closed fist then open palm to her nose and face to get his left side free. Still refusing to let go of him, he grabbed her by her shoulder armor and threw her over onto her back. He slammed his artificial hand onto the merc's chest and initiated a high-powered electric pulse frying the nerve fibers.

"Thanks!" He hollered. He wasn't sure who gave him the opening but wasn't going to fret over it. Especially when there were still neck deep in mercenaries trying to kill them.

He picked up the merc's M-4 Shuriken. In his consideration, it was a piece of crap weapon. It had terrible recoil, low stopping power and small clips for the burst size it fired. But it had three things in its favor right now: it was light-weight, it had a quick reload and he could kill mercs faster with an SMG and an omni-tool than with just an omni-tool. He would have preferred an N7 Eagle, but it was better than nothing.

He managed to squeeze two six-round bursts off before the thermal clip was hot and popped onto the ground. Another clip automatically fed in replacing the spent clip and started unleashing bursts into the growing army that surrounded them. He could hear Ashley still trying to hold off attackers down on the first floor.

"Garrus, you up here?!" He yelled as he squeezed a burst into a pair of Eclipse that were running up the stairwell. A round stuck the lead merc in the throat causing him to gag and choke on his own blood as he rolled back down the stairs and died.

Garrus popped up from the far side of the second story firing two Viper rounds into the mercenaries on the first floor. "Still alive but I'm running low on ammo!"

"Need you to cover me!" He waited two seconds before jumping over the ledge onto the first floor.

Slamming down he spawned three combat drones. He had affectionately named them "Dewey", "Cheatum" and "Howe" when used in this fashion. Hewie glowed blue, Cheatum was red and Howe was yellow. The only way he could keep track of them was to refer to them by color. When he used the three drones in concert the processing power they had to go after hostiles along with their shields were severely hampered. But direct offensive action wasn't the reason for their use; the trio was to cause chaos. One or two hits after their shields were depleted the combat drones exploded in a power-based shower of colors associated with the color of the drones. Red was incendiary, Yellow was an electric overload and blue a cryo blast.

Dewey and Howe headed for the main entrance while Cheatum went for the door to the basement. After a few seconds Cheatum exploded causing the door to slam shut due to the power failure. He worried about Sirilia for a moment before seeing someone throw a merc across from the side of the room that was overlooking a drop off to the more slum-like areas of Omega.

"Didn't even check to make sure I was out?" She said over the gunfire.

"I can't run three drones at once!" He hollered back as another burst ripped the armor of one of the lower ranked merc's armor apart. "Ash, you still with us?"

He was the last one of the assault group. For that wave anyways. He alone had to have expended more than twenty thermal clips, most of which belonged to weapons of dead Eclipse members.

There was no response from her.

"I'm out of ammo up here!" Garrus yelled.

"Catch!" Shepard grabbed one of the mercenaries rifles and threw it up. He didn't even bother checking what kind of rifle it was or how many were in the clip but a sniper rifle with no rounds was useless. He was pretty sure it was a Vindicator but things were too blurry for him to look back.

Sirilia had moved out of sight. "I don't see Williams anywhere." He heard her call from the front. "But there's another wave of Eclipse coming."

"Jen dao mei..." He sighed out collapsing in a slouch.

* * *

Tali, James and Javik returned to their shuttle only to find it abandoned. No sign of Cortez, no spent thermal clips or scorch marks from weapons fire. It was as if he just disappeared. None of it made sense to James but he had to focus on Shepard and the others. He resigned his rage against whomever assaulted Cortez to the farther back portions of his mind but ready to beat the beat the bastard out of this life and the one after it at a moment's notice.

"Everyone strap in tight." He said sitting down in the cockpit.

"What about Cortez?" Tali said.

Javik offered his usual practical but still cynical outlook. "We will return for him if he's still alive."

"Hey man just shut it!" He said initiating the startup sequence. Cortez said he was going to keep the shuttle ready to run but someone had shut it down. Why was it cold now? There was an uncomfortable knot in his gut he couldn't just explain away.

He was about to fire up the engines when he realized what it was. The entire shuttle had been turned off but the doors were wide open.

"EVERYBODY OUT!"

James tore out of shuttle like an extremely large bat out of hell, Tali and Javik barely keeping pace ahead of him.

They made it ten steps out before the Kodiak exploded sending them flying into other parked vehicles. Groaning, all three stood back up slowly.

"What happened?" Tali asked. It took him a moment to know why her voice was distorted: his eardrums had blown out from the soundwave.

"Uuuurrgh." He gripped a skycar to steady himself.

"The shuttle was rigged." Javik said. "Likely by the same person who killed the pilot."

"He's not dead." James spat back. His vision blurred red. It was blood running down his forehead. He wiped it away, the hard and cold of the armor sent a pained needle through his head. There was probably a concussion but he'd deal with it later. "Tali, can you hotwire one of these?"

"I uh, I-I think so. Just, give me a second."

"We do not have it! Any decent assassin would remain nearby to make sure their intended target was killed. We need to leave before he tries to finish the job."

"You heard him. Just pick one and get started. We'll cover you."

* * *

Shepard's body was moving slower and slower. Every time an Eclipse was knocked out or killed another took the place of the fallen. The adrenaline that had been coursing through keeping him standing was waining. His hands were glistening in blood. He couldn't tell what amount was his own or that of the various mercenary species. The last thermal clip had been expended several minutes ago by Sirilia who had wanted to try and save what little ammunition they started with.

He heard an enraged grunt before a fist slammed into his forehead just off of his eye socket. The blow sent Shepard slamming into the ground. He tried pulling a second wind, sweeping the Eclipse's legs. It worked but only to a certain degree. The mercenary fell down like he wanted but fell on top of Shepard. With the amount of exhaustion he was experiencing this could easily end up a fatal accident.

The merc sat up from him. They were both a little dizzy from the blows to the head but still focused on one sole purpose: survive. The traded a few blows before a hail of gunfire erupted dropping the remaining mercenaries including the one on top of Shepard.

_'Oh thank god...'_ Shepard thought, completely drained. Even if he had been able to deal with the one that knocked him down, more were sure to come shortly after. And after being hopped up for over nine hours straight on adrenaline, ten before that of mind numbing screen-watching, he was truly drop dead tired.

His head dropped to the floor simply relieved to have a break from the constant fighting. "Tali, I must say your timing is _perfect_ babe." Shepard said.

"You're welcome Shepard, but don't ever call me 'babe'." A raspy voice said.

The voice was that of a batarian. _'Fuck. Me.'_ There were hundreds, likely thousands who still wanted him dead despite the fact that he was leading the charge against the Reapers who rolled rough shot over millions of their people. The new batarian government was showing a new willingness to cooperate with the Council races, even trying to offer an occasional olive branch (weak as they may have been) to the Alliance. That didn't mean that a rogue individual would try and take it upon themselves to kill him.

The voice was familiar but the fact that nearly every encounter Shepard had with batarians involved them shooting at each other the implication wasn't good.

The batarian rolled the dead merc off of Shepard. The batarian grabbed Shepard by the arm and pulled him up. His armor was decorated with blood red and black. He was escorted by five others in the same color armor each of the same color, each with a white circle painted on the chest: Talons mercs. Two were turian men, a krogan male, a batarian man and a salarian male. The turians had red facial paint and the krogan's headplate was painted an equally bright red.

He lifted his hands up slowly, wiping away the multicolored blood that made his face look like a sadist's rendition of a Jackson Pollock painting.

"I give." He said. "You got me. Just let the others go. I surrender." It was all he could think of to spare Garrus and Sirilia. With Ashley missing he only hoped that they might be able to find her somehow. He also hoped that Tali could understand why he didn't and wouldn't hate him too much for it.

"Like I told you when you were last here Shepard," The lead batarian said. "There's a few batarians out here who don't want you dead."

It clicked who the batarian was. "Bray." He collapsed into him with a hug. "You're a goddamn life saver!"

"Let's get you out of here before the Suns get involved. We've already cleared the way out."

Shepard stepped back and turned to Garrus and Sirilia, the former staggering down from the second floor. "You got my signal then." He had taken a quick look at the escape routes from the command center and a merc group to place someone by the entrance and given them a set of code signals to look for should something go wrong. The bum he got the cigarette from was a Talon, a short then long exhale followed by two quick ones from the same breath told him that they had been compromised and to head for the abandoned base.

"Go help them." Bray said to his men. Four of the five went to help Garrus and Sirilia while the krogan hefted Shepard onto his back.

"We'll take you to the docks. Another team from your ship has been tearing through looking for you."

A weak grin came over Shepard's face. He knew Tali would be at the head of the group. "That's my girl." He wheezed.

* * *

"_Another fifty meters."_ EDI said over the suit's helmet radio. She had been directing James who was flying the stolen skycar at beyond lethal speeds.

"_You've reached the LZ."_ He slammed the brakes and dropped the shuttle down for an almost crash landing.

"Any more word on what happened?"

"_My cyber warfare suites can easily hack the station's security but information on Omega is more word of mouth."_

"In other words, 'no'." Tali re-checked her shotgun. There was a fresh clip in it, her omni-tool was ready to remotely hack any suit VI program and overload a small army's worth of guns and shields and she was more than ready to fight her way through that army if it was needed.

"There are more skycars." Javik said pointing to four heavily armored vehicles. All with a painted white circle and a red symbol overlaying it.

"Probably a hit squad." James said. "Advance by leapfrog, covering rotations."

Advancing only two at a time they moved to cover while whoever was taking up the rear made sure no one was following. It was an old military maneuver for operating in hostile environments and on Omega paranoia on this level was healthy.

"_Proceed up the stairs and take the first right."_

"Thank you EDI, I can see it." James said. She was helpful of course, but his biggest concern was any ambushes. "Just let me know if there's any hostiles in the area."

"_Attempting to process..."_ The AI went silent for several seconds before she responded. _"__I am currently able to track several individuals near Shepard's ID tracker. I suggest you hurry. His suit's health monitor suggests he is in near-critical condition."_

Tali immediately ran ahead from her position in the middle of the trio.

"Sparks wai—aw dammit."

* * *

She couldn't lose him again. She _couldn't_. Not when he was so close.

The layout had a slight zig-zag pattern to it, half deconstructed barriers and sudden turns made her nearly run into the walls when she changed directions. She had returned the shotgun to the small of her back and pulled her pistol.

* * *

"_I still don't understand why you're covering my eyes." Tali said as she walked into their bedroom. Shepard was immediately behind her, his hands covering as much of her mask as possible._

"_It's an old human tradition." He explained. "Could you indulge me for like ten more seconds?"_

"_Okay."_

_He walked her slowly down the stairs, worried that a misstep would send them both tumbling to the ground then a trip to medical and an embarrassing explanation to Chakwas as to how they were hurt in the first place._

"_Now turn around." He removed his hands and took a few steps back to by his desk._

"_Do I still have to keep my eyes shut?"_

"_You can open them now."_

_Opening her eyes, she saw a wooden box with a cloth folded on top of it and several vases of flowers around the cabin._

"_Shepard... what is this?"_

"_Happy anniversary Tali." He said._

"_Anni what?"_

"_Anniversary. You know, since we first started dating. It's been a year. Well, year and a half. This was the first chance we've really had to sit down for a while."_

"_I've only been back for two months."_

"_No I mean since we first started dating. So what do you think?"_

"_It's beautiful. But you didn't have to."_

_His tone changed to a more somber one."Yes I did. I should have done this weeks ago. I should have made the time for you but I kept saying that there _wasn't_time for something like this; that there wasn't time for the two of us to have time together like this."_

"_You were right. We've been running ourselves tired trying on the front lines."_

"_Then let's take a break shall we? Come on." They sat down on the couch in front of the picnic basket. A picture of a tree was overlaying on the glass where Shepard kept his model ship collection._

"_How does this work? I didn't see anything like this when I was reading about human courtship rituals."_

"_It's a little more rare nowadays it's very old Earth family tradition. I barely did it with my own family. We just moved around too much. As for what we do, it's pretty simple. We just sit and enjoy the food."_

_He took the blanket off and covered the coffee table with it._

"_I've got some dextro fruit. They look like strawberries. I'm really hoping it tastes the same or at least similar." He said pulling out a box of blue-green fruits._

"_And with strawberries, chocolate is pretty much required. Well, chocolate or whipped cream but I couldn't find anything close to it. I've also got some Soviyen wine. Garrus said a couple female officers he served with said it was good." The cider was a gray liquid in a glass bottle with a black and gold print on it showing the date it was bottled; 2087. He was completely clueless as to whether or not dextro-based wine aged like levo wine, but was hoping it was._

"_I remember seeing a bottle like this on the Citadel the last time we were there."_

"_Same one. I called them a few hours later and bought it."_

"_You said it was two week's pay."_

"_For you, it's well worth it." He popped the cork and poured her a glass._

_The picnic proceeded exactly as he planned. It was a nice, calm, uneventful day with the woman he loved._

"_That *hic* was so sweet what you did what you did Shepard. We should *__hic*__do it again tomorrow. Ooh! We should do this tomorrow. No! Every day!" She hadn't even drank half the bottle and was already drunk._

"_It's not over yet. Though I probably shouldn't do this with you being drunk and all—"_

"_I'm not drunk. *__hic__* I'm just a little *hic* bubbly right now."_

"_Well then, there's one last thing I have planned."_

"_Oh? Really?" Her eyes lit up like a child on her birthday. "What is it?"_

"_A little gift I got for you. You mind if I get up to go get it?" Her head had been resting in his lap for the last several minutes. He had been feeding her the strawberries with her head resting on his lap leaving him pinned._

"_But I'm comfyyyy."_

"_Well I can't reach your present from here."_

"_Oh fine." Shepard wiggled out from under her. A 'whump' told him that her head fell back onto the soft, warm leather couch. It was a testament how well the couch had held up. Considering that Wrex had sat on it without a single strained creak._

"_Okay." His hands were hiding something behind his back as he side-stepped down. She sat up wondering what it was he got her._

"_Here it is." He revealed a box wrapped in a deep, soft blue paper that had a shine of a polished glass surface._

_Handing it to her, she tried to carefully unwrap it. It would have been tricky under normal circumstances with her large fingers, but buzzed? It was a herculean task._

_After a few seconds he told her that she didn't have to be so careful with the paper. She wanted to save the paper, maybe use it for something else. A few old habits from living in the Fleet for her whole life still clung to her. Chief among them was to never throw anything away. They simply couldn't afford to waste anything._

_When she unwrapped it she saw a shimmering M-358 Talon pistol. There were a few in the armory that had been taken from dead Cerberus soldiers, but they didn't fit Tali's fingers as well as they did Shepard or Liara's. It was polished chrome with a dark gray grip. The thermal clip cylinders and barrel had a pattern etched on it similar to her hood._

"_I know you've been wanting to try it out a bit. I had it customized to fit your hand, included a Ladar guide to focus on targets farther away. I also tweaked the heat sink so it can take an extra round or two before discharging a clip. I know it's not the best gift for someone you love,"_

"_Shepard."_

"_But I engraved it with our names on it and the date we met."_

"_Why would it have the date?"_

"_Because if it weren't for you, I'd be an absolutely insufferable SOB."_

* * *

The pistol Tali was drawing as she ran down the Omega streets was the same M-358 pistol he had given her for their anniversary. She took it with her on every mission since, all the way to Earth. She used it exclusively rather than a combination of pistol and shotgun. It was quite elegant in its efficiency.

Jumping over the last barricade she fell into a combat roll as her feet hit the floor. Coming back up she saw several red-armored mercenaries carrying Garrus and Sirilia with a krogan carrying someone else on his back. It took her a moment to recognize who it was from all the blood covering him and the hump in the way.

It clicked who the krogan was carrying. Her eyes went wide, pulse skyrocketed and heart jumped into her throat in fear.

"PUT HIM DOWN!" She screeched. The M-358 was pointed directly at the krogan's head. He was twenty meters away but the Ladar range-finder was linked to the weapon's choke tightening the barrel down. The krogan might as well have been standing right in front of her with the stopping power it had.

The one batarian that wasn't carrying someone raised his own weapon to her. "Out of our way kid. This doesn't concern you."

Somewhere in her she found a calm in what was about to happen. "He's my husband. Put him and the others down or I kill you all." She said cooly.

* * *

Shepard was fading in and out of consciousness every few seconds. Something that in his condition, was extremely dangerous.

He could hear a voice. "That's my husband. Put him and the others down or I kill you all."

"Wai—put me down." He wheezed. He tried rolling off the krogan's back but could move anything except his mechanical fingers.

Bray didn't hear what Shepard said. "You mean the turian? He's under our protection too. Orders from the passed out human."

"Lower... your..."

"I meant the human. The turians are coming with me too." He heard two more soft whumps. It must have been the others who came with Tali. Which two came with her?

"In my cycle we did not make idle threats. Do not cross us primitive. You disgrace all quadr-visioned races."

_'Javik. I'll be damned.'_

"Hey culos, put them down before you get put down."

_'And James. Who else would be crazy enough to come with them. Oh god!'_ His mind raced back to Ashley who was missing. Another dead friend because he failed. Because he wasn't fast enough; didn't figure out what happened to the command center in time.

He wheezed a few words out again. "Bray... let me... talk..."

The krogan finally heard him. "Hey Boss, think he wants to say something."

"Look, let's just everyone lower their weapons for a few seconds okay?" Bray said. "Let the Commander speak his piece."

The krogan knelt down so Shepard could stand up, though the hero did so slowly.

Tali's first instinct was to grab Shepard, Garrus and get the hell out of there. But if she did, it's likely the mercenaries would kill her and Shepard right then.

"She's my fiancée. You can trust her." Bray and the other Talons put their weapons down. "Tali, Bray just saved all three of our asses. He's a good guy. Actually, he's the only Bat I'd trust with my life."

"Don't ever call me that Shepard."

"Just emphasizing a point."

Tali lowered her M-358 with James and Javik following suite after a second.

He was still weak, but was still determined to find a way to make Kirby pay for Ash. "Okay, now that we're not all about to kill each other, what happened?"

"Cortez is missing and our shuttle was bombed."

_'GOD! DAMMIT!' _Now he got Cortez killed. He didn't deserve to die like that. Ashley AND Cortez. And Kirby wasn't even in custody. Now though he fully intended to kill Kirby. Painfully so. Before it was professional but killing two of his friends made this very personal."

"So what's next?" He asked.

Shepard's omni-tool opened with a scream. _"__I think I have your answer Slayer."_

"Kee'lah! What is that?"

"_It's quite simple dog-legs."_ It was Kirby. How he managed to hack Shepard's omni-tool was something he'd have to look at when they were done.

"_I'm giving ol' Mr. Hero-man here a choice. Either he shows up or I kill his little minions,"_ The camera adjusted to show a badly beaten Cortez and Ashley tied to chairs. With explosives placed underneath. Gags in their mouths prevented them from speaking. _"__In a _magnificent_BOOM! So how about it Shepard? I'm rather impressed you managed to make it out alive._

"_More than a little depressed that you needed to use more mercs to get anything done. You were a hyper-badass survivor! Then you became just as weak as the rest of the galaxy, not able to do anything yourself."_

"Funny, I didn't see your face in that horde."

"_Honestly Shepard, you need to open your eyes. Who do you think was the one who took little miss marine here?"_

James was seriously pissed. "If you hurt her-"

"_Be gentle? Like I was with your shuttle pilot? Say hello Cortez."_

Kirby took the gag off of Cortez's mouth. _"__Shepard just forget about us! Don't come near him!"_

"_WRONG ANSWER!" _Kirby moved in almost a blur. He pulled Cortez's sidearm and shot him in the foot. _"_This_, is what happens when one of you defies my orders. Do you understand Shepard? If you defy me again I turn your friends into instant wall paint."_

"Kirby, I was just going to kill you. But now I'm going to do it slowly."

"_You don't get to talk to your betters like that Shepard. Apologize or the marine will become a cripple."_

Shepard hesitated unsure on what to do. His first instinct was to not give Kirby any form of satisfaction. "... I'm sorry... sir."

"_That's a good start, but how about you try 'master'. After all, I _am_in control of your actions."_

His teeth were grit so tightly he was starting to chip them. "Yes... master." The others could only watch on in stunned silence as the galaxy's savior was all but on his knees begging.

"_Good. Now that you know your place, here's the arrangement. Pick one of them. Wait, I want your steroid infused marine to do it. He's close with both of them isn't he? He'll pick which one stays and which one goes."_

"Quit with the games already! Let's just get this over with. You and me. No one else."

"_What is this, the 'you pick the time, I pick the place' kinda thing? We show up, I ask if you brought any friends with you. You'll say 'no, that was part of the deal'. Then you ask me the same thing. My response is 'of course! I'm a man of honor aren't I?' Then we both start fighting while our snipers line up shots the whole time, waiting for the right moment."_

"No, I mean the three of us. Bring some one if you want for a witness."

Kirby thought it over for a minute. _"__Okay, sounds good. Shuttle bay four is still a wreck from my last little soirée. You have twenty minutes. Should be enough time to put some tape on your broken armor; make it look all nice and pretty again."_

"Plenty of time." The channel closed.

Tali was the first to speak up. "Markus, you can't meet him alone. He'll kill you."

"I don't intend to do either of those."

"So what is the plan? Something loco huh?"

"That's one way of putting it. I'll need a few patches James. Tell me you brought a medkit."

* * *

**A/N:** This is the last chapter I'll be doing for a while. I want to switch to 'Rubble &amp; Ruin' and need to focus on my classes.


	27. Chapter 26

_Riding shotgun on the roller coaster of death_

_Coughin up blood as you falling toward the light_

_Pulse is slowing down your maker's in sight_

_Shotgun to the face send you to the sky_

Chapter 25

...Is Always Through

The Spectre, SR-2 and Talon squads were about to put Shepard's plan into action. No one wanted to stick around in case more Eclipse mercenaries had been sent.

"Shepard... Markus, you don't have to do this. You can barely stand."

James had given Shepard what little medical care he could while the Talons drove the shuttles. They were cramped, smelled like a marine rec lounge the day after new years and looked like it was held together with nothing but chewing gum and wishful thinking, but it got them to the shuttle bay on K deck.

"I'll be fine Tali," Shepard reassured her. "Not the first time we've walked head first into a suicide mission is it?"

"That's my point! You told me that you could feel your luck running out. Don't push yourself like this."

"NO!"

The others looked at him surprised by the emotional outburst.

"No. I won't just walk away. I already killed a friend because I cut my losses. There was enough time, I could have gone back and saved him..." His jaw was shivering as his breaking voice drifted off. "I left Kaidan behind. It's _my_ fault he's dead, n_ot_ Saren's. And now, after we've been through ten kinds of hell in the last three years there is no _way_ in _hell_ that I'm gonna let some psychopath kill two more of my family."

It was Garrus' turn to comfort his friend now. "Shepard, none of us will argue the second half, but what happened with Kaidan wasn't your fault. There was no way you could have predicted another drop ship would show up so quickly. It was just... bad luck."

"The nuke detonated after five minutes. Minimum safe distance was four minutes. That left sixty seconds to go back and save them. _Sixty!_ I should ha—it's my..." He couldn't even finish his sentence. This was something he had held in for nearly four years. Four years of outwardly blaming Saren, when he felt that it was really him who killed Kaidan.

"Listen," Bray said. "I don't mind you lot having a touchy-feely moment here, but could we get on with this before that crazy bastard blows up half of the station I live on?"

* * *

Ashley was tied to Cortez, both of them strapped with remote explosive charges around their necks, wrists and ankles. It was designed to keep them from moving quickly in an escape attempt. They had been given just enough pain killers so they could stand. She was still dizzy and Cortez's gunshot wound made him almost as unsteady.

"You know," Kirby grumbled as he paced back and forth. It drove her crazy. Every time he turned around, she thought he was going to lose it and put a bullet in each of their brains. "I'm starting to think that Shepard might not show. You think he'd be pissed if I killed you two now? I mean, I do have other jobs I need to be doing."

"I think you're a fucking nut-bag and Shepard'll slit your throat and let you bleed out on the ground." She spat back.

He sighed. "So ineloquent. Marines have no sense of poetry what so ever. There was one exception though, a crusty old bastard I knew, Zaeed I think. Now that guy could turn a phrase." The way he said it was as if he actually were disappointed in Ash's simplistic, but tenacious words.

She was about to make another rebuttal, but Cortez whispered to her asking her to stop. "Don't get him too riled," He whispered. "We need to buy Shepard as much time as we can."

"Buy him whatever time you want to. He's still gonna die few minutes after he steps in here."

"Why are you doing this?" Cortez asked.

"KIRBY!"

"Ah, the guest of honor has arrived." A sly, gleeful grin crept up Arjen's face as Shepard walked in to the shuttle bay that had been set up like an arena. The hulks of wrecked vehicles had been pushed aside to form a circle blocking all but two of the entrances. A few of the skycars still had tiny flames going inside or on them giving them the ominous glow like a torch in a dungeon. All though a sacrificial chamber was probably a more fitting description.

Shepard walked in from the far side across from Kirby and his hostages, James just behind him on his left.

"You know, I thought I told you, only _one_ witness."

"I did. James here is the only person I brought with me."

"Aaand yet, you've got snipers lining up shots right now." He looked up to the second floor. He wasn't completely sure where they were, but anybody with half a brain cell wouldn't trust him at his word. Hell, _he_ wouldn't. He _was_ a sociopath who enjoyed manipulating people after all.

"You know," he said to Shepard. "I've got a double dead-man's signal connected to your lackeys. One is constantly going. If it stops, BOOM! The other is keyed to my suit's VI. If I die, a signal will be sent to the charges and, well, you know... boom. You know what that means? The snipers you have waiting in the wings are useless."

"I didn't bring anyone one else with me. And if you're seeing marksmen, then you obviously brought someone with you. I keep my word, Kirby."

"Oh, _god_. Tell me you're not going to appeal to my humanity, forget it. This a business deal Shepard. I'm just the guy hired to kill you. And what they're paying me, oh-ho-ho-ho."

"Big check?"

"Big doesn't even cover it. Enough to buy myself half a solar system."

"Didn't think Cerberus had that kind of money anymore."

"Cerberus is defunct. Has been since you took out their headquarters almost a year ago. Doesn't mean their people aren't still alive."

"So who is the new bigwig?"

"Sorry Shepard, but I got no idea who it is." He turned to James who had been slowly moving to the side. "HEY! Don't think I don't see you, Steroids. Shame on you! Now don't you take another step."

James raised his hands and backed off.

"WRONG MOVE!"

Kirby pulled his M-3 and shot Ashley in the chest. With his injured foot, Cortez wasn't able to hold the two of them up. The pilot and marine fell to the ground in a thump.

James' armor fortification winked on, his armor glowing as he charged towards Kirby screaming a war cry that rivaled that of the most bloodthirsty krogan. Shepard charged in with him a second or two later but much quieter.

"Oh dear, the big bad marine is gonna come save the day," He said with bored sarcasm. Opening his omni-tool, he activated a pre-programed command. The floor behind James exploded sending the berserk marine flying forward. Shepard meanwhile had stepped on the plate sending him into the air, falling only a foot away or so from the initial blast point.

Skidding to a stop, Kirby slammed his armored boot across James' mouth knocking a couple teeth out then kicked his forehead. The two blows knocked James out.

"This," he said to himself more than anyone else, "is why I hate marines: no sense of eloquence. Just head-long charges. So barbaric."

* * *

Shepard shook away a bit of the dizziness. He knew going after Kirby directly would be a bad idea.

"Come now Shepard, I thought you only picked the best of the best. I mean come on. Way too easy to make this guy dance like a puppet."

Markus steadied himself as he got up off the floor. "You know, your brother would have no problem denouncing you as a bastard brother."

"Don't you _dare_... talk about my little brother like that! You _never_ get to speak about him."

He wiped the blood away from his lip.

James' signal said he was unconscious but alive and stable. He had probably received a concussion from the blow, but he should make a full recovery. It would take more than a few knocks to the head to keep James down permanently.

He should have seen it coming though. Not only Kirby putting charges around the area but strapping a few to Ash and Cortez. It was so damn obvious that he could practically punch himself for not seeing it. This meant that the snipers he had set up couldn't take a single shot without risking a shot tearing through an artery. This would cause Ashley and Cortez to be killed through indirect

"Noell was a naval field medic, a healer-"

Kirby was practically frothing at the mouth as he bellowed. "I said, don't _ever_ speak about him!"

"He chose the most dangerous assignments. Operations Fallen Traveler, Operation Pickpocket , volunteering on the more violent founding colonies in the traverse, Torfan... it's all clear what he wanted."

Kirby turned his gun on Ashley and Cortez. "You say _one_ more word about my little brother, and I'll blow them sky high."

"I don't know what it was that killed him though, a mine or a stray round from one of the slavers, but I know how he died."

"I. Said. Be. Quiet!"

"He was only 19 when he died. He served for only ten months. In those ten months he soared to Chief Petty Officer if I remember right. But that's not the point is? He would have died of blood loss more than likely, and I'm willing to bet it was in your arms. Tell me, what were his last words? Was it 'kill them'? Is that it? Did he want you to throw it away? You see, I doubt that. Noell was, well, he was a healer." Kirby was enraged but in a complete trance. "When we served on Elysium together you said your parents died on Shanxi. That meant you went into a foster home, right? It would have been almost impossible for him to get enough money to attend a medical school, so he chose the Alliance. The deal he signed, five years of service for five years of school, right?"

"Get the hell _out of my head!_"

"It doesn't have to end this way. It doesn't have to end like Torfan. Not this time."

Kirby's head went slack looking at the ground, the arm holding his weapon away swaying slightly. "You-re... you're right." Kirby was crying almost beyond control as he spoke.

This was good. He was backing down. Shepard's mind was running at over a mile a second, trying to figure out how to get the explosives off of Ashley and Cortez.

"Heh heh heh heh. You really think that base level hostage negotiator crap will work? I mean _come on!_ This is pathetic. I dealt with his death years ago."

_'Oh hell...'_

Kirby raised the gun up. "Sorry Shepard, but I'm about to be filthy stinking rich. All I have to do is squeeze this trigger here a few times. Honestly, how did you not see this coming? It's such a simple plan. Man, I can't believe you actually managed to survive this long being so retarded."

He was out of options. Activating his omni-blades Shepard charged forward, a second wave of adrenaline now pumping through his veins. The blade on his left side glowed a deep electric blue, the right a bright red-orange..

* * *

Tali saw everything happen through the scope of the M-92 Mantis sniper rifle 30 meters away. Shepard insisted she keep her distance from him and Kirby during all of this. He said he didn't want her near him, not with what had happened. There were two reasons she hated this. Part of it was that she didn't care for sniper rifles, but the vast majority was that she wanted to be with him. He was going on pure nerve and adrenaline right now. He was worn down physically and mentally.

Garrus and Sirilia were at two different points in the area. It was likely they were both on the second level like her. Maybe even the third level. There were a few holes in the floor where they could be poking through, but she hadn't taken the time to check.

Shepard linked his omni-tool to broadcast to the others' helmet radios. They could hear everything that was being said below.

"_Aaand yet, you've got snipers lining up shots right now."_ Kirby said.

"_Spirits!" _Sirilia cursed. _"__Can he see us?"_

"_I don't think so. Shepard said he loves to prove his superiority. If he knew he would have pointed us out directly."_

Shepard and Kirby did a little bantering back and forth. James meanwhile was trying to slip around behind Kirby.

"James, if you can get close enough I can piggyback on any broadcasting signals," Tali said. "If I can copy the signal I can start jamming the others, keep him from detonating it."

He couldn't send any audible or clear physical signal that he got the message. _'Kee'lah, please tell me he can get me into that signal...'_

"_Now don't you take another step,__"_ Kirby yelled to James.

_'Did he hear her? Does he know what they're thinking?'_ She thought to herself. James took a slow step back to be repaid with a gunshot to Ashley. Tali's finger tightened around the trigger.

"_Hold your fire! Hold your fire!"_ Garrus sounded panicked as he gave the order. _"__If we shoot now they both die."_

Easing her finger out from the trigger guard, sitting it on the outside of the guard. She could just about kick herself for coming so close to killing her friends without even realizing it.

James though had taken up the initiative. She saw him charge forward followed shortly behind by Shepard. Their assault though was quickly interrupted by an explosion from beneath the deck plate below them. Shepard flew backwards while James rolled to Kirby's feet.

The psycho made a comment about stupid marines before kicking James twice in the head.

"How much longer are we just going to wait?"

"_I have a reading on James' bio. He's alive,"_ Garrus said.

"Garrus, he's going to try and kill Shepard and either way he'll kill Ashley and Cortez. We should take him out while we can!"

"_Wait, you told..._ James..." Sirilia said unsure of the marine's name, "to_ scan for signals he's broadcasting?"_

"Yes? So?"

"_So,"_ Garrus said. _"__It should still be running. Shepard, we need you to keep him as close to James as you can. We'll tell you when we've hijacked the signal."_

She could hear Shepard talking to Kirby about his son. Her omni-tool was working quickly to find the wavelength that Kirby was using.

"_I said, don't _ever _speak_ about him_!" _Kirby yelled. It was so loud that she didn't need to hear it through Shepard's radio.

She had eliminated 38% of the possible signals lengths being used. She tried willing it to go faster but to no avail.

The signals scanned through reached 73%. _"__Heh heh heh heh. You really think that base level hostage negotiator crap will work?"_

"_That's not good."_ Garrus said. _"__He's about to snap."_

"Shepard, just stall him for another two or three minutes. I haven't gotten his signal yet."

Shepard's arms swung back activating his omni-blades. She had modified them to emit different tech powers. The left was a high charged overload that would paralyze if it came in contact with a person. No matter what species, it would leave them immobile from an intense charge coursing through their body's nervous system. The right was a highly flammable substance produced by his micro-fabricator, that infused it into the omni-blade. Tali had guaranteed him that it could cut through just about any material short of a silaris compound armor.

"Is he... is he going to try and fight him? This is crazy!"

"_It'll work. He knows what he's doing."_ Garrus reassured her.

Shepard was an arm's length away when Kirby's produced a fuzzy blue glow. The bomber leaped up into the air at an unnatural height for a human, nearly eight feet in a high arc outside of Shepard's reach. As flew much of his glow disappeared as his arc became less stable.

"What's going on with his biotics?"

"_They're unstable. Shepard said that even with the implants he can't do much more than the most basic manipulation of the gravity fields."_

Kirby landed, and turned on a dime. Shepard hadn't taken his eyes off him but was too slow.

"So, he can't throw a singularity field?"

"_He never showed enough power to do so before, so I think he should be fine. Problem is, he really shouldn't be trying to use an omni-blade against him. Why is he?"_

Kirby's body gave another momentary blue fuzzy glow. He threw Shepard sideways into a crushed pile of skycars that stood about three meters tall.

She looked to her omni-tool. "I've isolated the signal. I just need to find a repeating point in the signal."

* * *

Shepard's back slammed into the skycar wall first and the omni-blades switched off. His head hit a moment later. He could hear as Tali gave off the percentage of signals she scanned that Kirby might be using. She had found which one it was, so now all he needed to do was stall Kirby for another minute. Maybe even less. She was an absolute whiz with tech after all.

Charging the deranged ex-Alliance soldier head first was a bad idea. Under normal circumstances he would have hit Kirby with an overload, but the double-dead man's switch made that a bad plan. He also couldn't just stand still.

"Come on you prick." He goaded. "Why don't you actually fight me like the man you pretend to be."

"Me? How about you? I mean, are you even _trying_ to hit me? Ooohhh. I get it now. The big bad undead soldier is needing his little girlfriend to hack my dead man's switch?"

"_Shepard,"_ Tali said over the wireless _"__I decoded the signal. It isn't his body's biosigns. Listen."_

"_Kill the spirit and you'll be blinded, the end is always the same.__"_ It was a song was from an archaic metal band from two full centuries ago. He listened to it in his early teens when he would work out or be tinkering with the settings on something.

The surprise was showing across Shepard's face like a signal light. He had been trained to maintain cover IDs under the most scrutiny of individuals, endure days, possibly weeks of torture and give nothing but false information, to lay perfectly prone for two days straight waiting for the perfect shot through a sniper rifle, to build a makeshift IED capable of leveling a building in under five minutes, but hearing a madman's signal that was being used to keep a vest of explosives from going off was an old song he used to listen to as a child? That was something you're never quite capable of prepping for.

"I can tell by that dipstick look on your face that you've finally deciphered my signal. So, what do you think?" Kirby's hands glowed, reaching halfway up his forearm as he ran forward. He brought his fist up, preparing to crush Shepard's scull in. He ducked at the last minute. Kirby's fist dented the metal hulk where Shepard's head was a moment ago.

Twisting sideways he slammed his knee into Kirby's stomach knocking him back. Moving with the kick he rolled forward and swept Kirby's legs. He cushioned his landing and rolled to the side sending a throw field towards Shepard.

"That it?" The madman taunted. Shepard's shoulder was caught in the throw field and was sent in a spin.

Luck was on Shepard's side. He turned his feet into the wall and leaped off from it, slamming his shoulder into Kirby's stomach. The low grade gravity generators in Alliance armor allowed them to raise or lower their mass by up to 30% for alternate environments. With it running as high as possible, Shepard's weight was less than 170 pounds. The alloys that made up his replacement limbs were a little lighter than the muscle tissue and bone. And with the strength he had, it was an easy leap.

He could hear Tali say something over the radio but couldn't distinguish what the words were. The blood lust he was feeling was too strong. The only thing he could focus on was spilling Kirby's blood all over the floor. And not just in the traditional 'I want to make him bleed' sense, but in the sense of wanting to beat the man until there wasn't anything left even for the DNA scanners to be able to identify that there even was a body.

The two former special-ops soldiers punched, kicked and parried each other almost perfectly. Each blow that one blocked was blocked by the other, each punch that Kirby took, Shepard took one as well. Not even in the most caring parts of their minds did either of them think about giving even a tenth of a millimeter.

"_Dammit Shepard,"_ Garrus' voice finally came through. _"__Get clear so one of us can take a shot!"_

His first instinct was to do it, but his gut said otherwise. It was a split second feeling, one that just comes and goes randomly. In his line though, that feeling often saved your life more than your brain. Simply put, it was used to keeping the rest of the body alive when the time it took to consciously process was all it took for that one slip-up, for something to go wrong in just the right way.

Shepard landed another punch to Kirby's jaw. It was the third blow to his head and the eighth total he scored. But this one came at a cost. A sharp pain erupted from his side.

He stumbled back, hand reactively moving to cover it up. There was a three inch blade handle shoved into the soft part of his armor. The blade itself was likely just as long, maybe a little less. But it didn't need to be long. He looked down at the knife then back to Kirby.

He almost stumbled, back but Kirby had other ideas. He knew Shepard had snipers in the area. But knowing something exists and knowing where it exists are two different things. Kirby zipped behind Shepard, moving the knife that was embedded in Shepard's kidney out and up to his throat.

"Anyone follows," Kirby yelled to the ambiguous darkness of the exposed second floor. "And I bleed him dry." Tali, Sirilia and Garrus were jumping down from their sniper perches and combat rolling onto to ground level. The dextros had their weapons trained squarely on Kirby. Or to be more accurate, at Kirby through Shepard.

"Let him go," Garrus said. "And I'll make sure the shot is clean and quick."

"Forget it." Shepard said. "Just shoot my leg and drop him with _extreme_ prejudice."

Kirby dug the knife in a little deeper, just enough to draw blood. The blood glistened in thin lines as it trickled down his neck and rolled over the armor onto the crimson red of the dragon painted on the left side of his armor. The two reds became indistinguishable from each other. The growing stream began falling down below the dragon's neck and head, making it look as if the dragon itself were mortally wounded.

"Now, now Shepard," Kirby toyed. "While I'd love to hear the shrieks of terror and your voice gargling over your own blood, if I kill you now I get a new hole in my head. Personally, I prefer the number I have."

"So, this is it? You've got one hostage, Kirby. You kill me, they kill you. You slip up, _I'_ll be the one who kills you. Face it, this isn't a winnable scenario."

Kirby had been pulling Shepard slowly towards the back entrance.

"So, what are you going to do?" Shepard asked.

"Man, I really wish you hadn't said anything, Shepard. You should know how volatile munitions experts become when their plans are torn apart. I tend to think up my plans after I'm neck deep in them. No pun intended of course. Well, maybe a little."

Shepard sighed, his muscles going slack. "You're right. Mind if I have a few last words?"

Tali's body was shaking slightly. "Shepard..."

"Tali, remember Despoina? How bad it ended?" He could only hope she understood what he meant.

"Yes."

"Good." He threw himself forward, allowing the knife to slash across his throat. His body went limp falling to the ground as the blood squirted out like a geyser for a few seconds. After that it began pooling quickly on the ground.

Tali and Garrus' rounds went wild as they fired their weapons. Kirby though had already rabbeted out the back. Tali ran to Shepard and fell down to her knees.

"Markus? Markus, please. Kee'lah no... no don't be... Markus!" She spoke a mile a second as she rolled him over onto her lap. Shepard had a slight grin on his face as his blood began spilling onto Tali's suit. She could hear Garrus was at the exit firing his assault rifle almost wildly and non-stop while swearing what had to be every curse in Turian. From the glimpses she saw out of the corner of her eyes, Sirilia was tending to Ashley and Cortez's injuries.

"I-I got medi-gel. Kee'lah, please don't die on me." She applied the anti-coagulant to the point it formed a second chin on his neck. An equally ample amount was applied to his gut wound.

He tried speaking but only a gargling sound came out. A second later his head fell to the side as his neck went slack.

"Markus? MARKUS?!"

* * *

Arjen was knocking people out of his way as he tried to get distance between himself and the shuttle pad. Shepard just _had_ to go and throw a big ol' wrench in his plans, didn't he? Now his two most loyal worshipers weren't going to stop until he was hunted down and killed. But the worst part of it? Shepard may not be dead.

No, things were not good right now. He needed proof of death to get paid. And the plan he'd been given to take Shepard down had backfired terribly. He needed to contact his employer and report.

He tried opening a private line to his employer. Whoever it was, not only was a voice masker used making it sound like a computer, he couldn't even discern a possible gender from it. Not that it helped with today's technological abilities. If they wanted to they could make themselves sound like one of the Citadel Council if they wanted. The image was a darkened silhouette with an even darker background so Arjen couldn't figure out species. He knew it wasn't a salarian though. The horns would have been visible even in the bad light. And this made Arjen uneasy whenever he had dealings with them.

As his already bad luck had it, the call was responded to with a busy signal. "Rotten fuck." Arjen cursed. He needed to get to one of the safe houses. And the problem he was facing now, was the nearest one was more than two miles away and that was in a straight line. On a ship or station, straight lines were difficult at best.

A round flew past his head drawing his attention. Looking back while running was pretty much a rare thing unless you were shooting at someone yourself. Mostly that was due to the fact that you knew who it was who was shooting at you to begin with. Who the hell wanted to cap him now? As if he didn't have enough to deal with as it was. His attacker was a female quarian in a light purple suit with a pistol, and a turian in black armor carrying an assault rifle. Two of Shepard's friends.

Arjen started moving randomly through the crowds zigzagging his way through Omega's streets. A round firing every few ten seconds or so was all the evidence he needed to know they were still following him. Despite running at his top speed for nearly three minutes, they managed to run him down in the end.

* * *

Tali leaped forward grabbing Kirby's legs. The two tumbled forward nearly a foot as Kirby lost his footing.

She climbed on top of him, her Talon pistol which was set to its widest spread hovering just a few centimeters away from his face.

"Why? Why... did you... do it?" Tali asked. She had to take deep breaths between every other word.

"You mean... killing Shepard?" Kirby asked just as winded. "Simple. I was, paid to do it. It's nothing personal."

"Not personal?! _You killed him!_ You kill dozens of people, try to kill him, just for money?"

"Hey hey hey! Easy there sweetheart. It's like I told him; I was hired to do a job. Long as they pay me, I don't care. And no offense little girl, but everything comes down to money."

"No offense here Zorah, but I've been trying to kill this guy for almost a year. Can we just get it over with?"

"No. Shepard would want information about who hired him. Now tell me who. Who hired you?"

"I don't know." He plainly said. "Sorry, but they're pretty damned paranoid about their identity. Even uses a voice and face masker. Your guess is as good as mine."

Sirilia popped a used thermal clip from her rifle. "Good enough for me." She said before putting two in Kirby's head. Some of the gray matter splattered onto Tali's suit and Sirilia's boots.

"Wha-why did you do that?"

"That bastard was directly responsible for the deaths of dozens of people. He didn't get to live. Now let's go."

The callous turian helped Tali up. "Come on. We need to get back to the _Normandy_. Somehow..."

* * *

May 16th, 2187

Tali hadn't moved from Shepard's body since it had been moved to the SR-2's medical bay. Chakwas let her use one of the beds next to Shepard. Ashley was sleeping across from Tali who was still recovering from her gunshot. Cortez had been released the day after he came in, Garrus and Sirilia only after a few hours combined. James was ordered to take it easy for the next several days. Despite this, he continued his rigorous daily workout in the ship's cargo hold. He did hold off though on anything that made his head move quickly.

Chakwas gave the former ship's engineer a slight shake to wake her up. "Hey kiddo, you feeling okay?"

Tali groaned as she woke from what the doctor hoped was a deep and pleasant dream. "Yeah. I guess."

"Huuurrrnnn... ferr merder bttle grr." Even Chakwas couldn't understand her former commander's sleepy wake-up talk so it was more than likely that Tali didn't either.

"Shepard!" Tali leaped from her bed over to his, hugging him like a hungry snake.

"Ow," He groggily groaned.

"Oh. I'm sorry. A-are you okay?"

"I feel like my guts are on fire, and my head's pounding like a maw hammer is coming down on it every two seconds, but yeah. I'm okay."

"That would be the medications." Chakwas explained. "Tali was a little overgenerous with the medi-gel, so I needed to use some of my more aggressive and painful medicines."

Tali started to apologize, but Shepard cut her off. "Hey, I'd prefer a lot of pain to being a corpse any day. Thank you." He pulled her in with his left hand and gave her a loving kiss on the forehead.

His tone changed to a more serious note. "There's just one thing I need to ask you, Doc. You didn't file a post-mission medical report yet did you?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Shit." Shepard grimaced as if he had been stabbed all over again. "If I'm still legally alive then whomever hired Arjen will come after me again."

"Well, I can't change a medical report I've already filed without a note being put on the file. Anyone reads them, they'll know it was altered."

"Okay then, plan B. But I'll need to call my family first. QEC. No open comms. It can be recorded or intercepted."

She could see that Tali wasn't quite sure what he planned, but Chakwas was fairly sure she knew what he had planned. "I think so Shepard. Give us a few minutes to track them down?"

"Hey, take your time. I'm not going anywhere."

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry for the delay. Go figure I decide to start writing right before midterms. I do not plan this stuff wisely. In any case, I hope you enjoyed it. Now Shepard will, as per the galaxy's cruelty, be dealt another bad hand (though it won't be too bad).

In any case, hope to hear from you all once again in 1-2 weeks.


	28. Chapter 27

**A/N: **Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Term finals are coming up and I had a crazy idea: hey, how about I try focusing on them? Ye-gasp! What a concept, I know! For those of us living in the US, happy Thanksgiving! It's a little early, yes, but I thought I'd say it anyways. In any case, all of you have a good day, week, month, or however long you wish!

-Daedalus

* * *

_Business men they drink my wine. Plowmen dig my earth._

_None of them along the line, know what any of it is worth_

Chapter 27

Homecoming ptI

Shepard was waiting in the war room just out of visual range of anyone using the QEC. Liara had been running down his family. His mother, father and eldest sister hadn't been a problem. The first two was through a quick query to Alliance fleet command. Sonja was still on Rannoch at Shepard's house and was second on the list to call. If Wrex heard about it, he'd go on a murderous spree hunting down whoever hired Kirby. His mother would have ordered her entire fleet to run them down like dogs. Isabella was on a shipping lane somewhere in the stellar void on another run. Amanda was on one of the farther human colonies helping with reconstruction.

"Admiral Shepard," Markus heard Liara's soft voice say. "there's something I need to discuss with you."

"_I gathered," _his mother's voice was notably irritated, _"__but why are you contacting me on the QEC at four in the morning?"_

"It has to do with your son."

_"__Markus? What happened?" _Her voice was now worried. She had undoubtedly heard about him leaving Rannoch. He shouldn't have been surprised. She had kept close tabs on both him and his sister for most of their military careers.

"That's the problem. We can't take the risk of a transmission being intercepted."

"_That's why you're using the QEC... fine. Now tell me what happened to my son."_

"We also can't risk anyone overhearing this conversation."

He heard how she snapped at her crew, a sly, somewhat proud grin crept up Shepard's face. _"__Everyone! Clear the bridge! Now! Simmons, shut the recorders off." _She waited a few seconds before speaking again. _"__Okay, they're gone. But tell me something, why didn't Markus call me?"_

"It's a bit of a long story." That was Shepard's cue. "Sorry 'bout this mom," Markus rolled around the corner and into view. "But I had a bit of a situation on Omega."

"_Omega? I thought you and Tali were on Rannoch."_

"Right... okay... from the beginning then..." It took him nearly half an hour to tell her what happened over the last week.

"_Markus, I'm not questioning your judgement, but are you sure about this?"_

"I am. And this is for Tali's sake as much as it is mine. If they try to come after me again it's likely they'll try and go through her."

"_I understand well enough. All right then. What do you need from me?"_

"Just put on a good show for the jackals when they start chasing."

"_Won't be a problem. I just hope you plan on telling your father and sisters."_

"Along with the crew. There's a, um... when I, after I..." He started fumbling his words.

"_What's wrong?"_ Despite her children having moved out more than a decade and a half ago, his mother's nurturing tones hadn't accumulated a speck of dust.

"Once I uh, when I'm legally dead, we won't be able to talk as often."

"_Really? I talked to you more during the war than most of your tours of duty."_

"Mom, this is serious. We'll only be able to talk two or three times a year. And by 'we' I mean anyone in the family."

His mother's shoulders went slack. The hints of humor in her face vanished. _"__So it's _that_bad. Okay. I uh, oh jeez. Do you want me to look into Kirby's history?"_

"No," he flatly stated, "whatever you do, don't go near it. I mean it."

Hannah sighed. _"__All right. I take it the same goes for Sonja?"_

"For god's sakes, keep her away from it. I know her, soon as she gets any information she'll run headlong at them and get herself killed."

"_No problem. Now you better call the rest of the family before they hear about your 'death' from a paparazzi hound."_

"You're right. Just, keep an eye open. Love you."

"_I love you too, son. Be careful."_

"Sure thing, mom. Bye." He closed the QEC. "Okay, Liara. Sonja and Wrex are up next."

Shepard moved back out of visual range while Liara began entering the frequency and coordinates to open a transmission to Rannoch.

"I think I have it."

"_Oh, hey there Liara."_ Sonja's tone was fairly upbeat. _"__How's Markie? Been a while for a... what's wrong? Why isn't he calling me himself?"_

"Are you alone?"

"_Oh no. God no. Please, Liara. Please tell me he's not dead."_

"Colonel, I understand your worry, but I need you to answer. Is there anyone close enough to overhear us?"

"_Listen to me good, you blue bitch... Where. Is. My. Brother?!"_

Sonja would just get more and more antagonistic. He needed something that would calm her down and fast. It took him a minute to remember that the two of them had a code set up if they needed to talk through an intermediary like this. He gave himself a mental kick in the head as he opened his omni-tool to send Liara the instructions. He heard her tool ping a quarter second after sending the message.

"Colonel, I understand your frustration but I need to know if there's any way you can get us some Hard Torrent beer. All we have on the ship is Black Dirt ale."

Sonja went silent for a few seconds. He figured she was trying to figure out why Liara said that. It was a bit of a non-sequiter considering the conversation, but he was sure she'd figure it for a lapse in his judgement.

"_Yeah,"_ she finally said. _"__It's just me."_

"Okay." Just like the last call, Shepard rolled around the corner and into view.

"Sorry about that." Liara gave the two of them some privacy.

"_Markus, what the hell is going on? Why the secrecy?"_

"Kirby was after me the whole time. Used Garrus to lure me in."

"_Suǒyǒu zài yǔzhòu zhōng de xíngxīng tuī wǒ de pìgu hé bàozhà!_ _How bad?__"_

"Got two scars out of it and I need a new cover ID... For the rest of my life, but I mean other than that, yeah I'm fine. How's house sitting been?"

"_Yeeeaaah... about that... there's a little... hiccup."_

"What did you do?"

"_It wasn't me! And Wrex didn't start it either."_

"Sonja, just tell me what happened."

"_Well..."_

* * *

A few days earlier

Sonja, Alex and Wrex were lounging in the living room in Shepard's house. Sonja had gotten some furniture shipped in with Shepard missing. Mostly basic things, a couch and a pair of chairs that according to Amanda would work with most of the color schemes their brother would pick. Alex had ordered a 75" TV that was mounted above the fireplace. Some of the other odds and ends included a utility cooking appliance, a sink with a dish rack and a refrigerator with built in freezer. All of the kitchen appliances had been a dark gray color, the surface was physically smooth but looked somewhat rough. The person who delivered it assured Sonja that you could throw every adhesive against it and none of them would stick. If it did, all she needed to do was give it a quick wipe with a piece of cloth. She hadn't had a chance to test that so far, but then again she wasn't looking to test the validity of the claim.

The three house sitters were watching a repeat of a biotiball game on the Alliance Sports Network, the Amaterasu Dragons vs the Texan Hellcats. Urz meanwhile was laying across both Alex and Sonja with his head in the latter's lap. Sonja was scratching behind his ear with one hand and holding her beer with the other.

"I just don't understand how you enjoy this," Wrex grumbled. "Can't get behind a sport where no one breaks a bone. Or a krogan opera."

"Bah!" Alex's beer was almost empty, meaning she would be getting a refill soon forcing poor Urz to adjust. The varren of course would take over her spot as soon as she got up. "This was the most watched game in Alliance history. It even hit the galactic theater like nothing else! More than a dozen asari and turian colonies."

"Still boring."

"You'll have to excuse Wrex," Sonja said. "He likes punching things, clawing things and shooting things. You know, the refined social tastes that all krogan have."

That got a chuckle out of both Alex and Wrex.

"What can I say," the Krogan said. He had the krogan approximation of a coy grin. "I'm a pillar of etiquette and the elegance."

"Whoa. Never heard a krogan use such big words. You sure you feeling okay big guy?" Sonja jested.

"Your brother is a wise teacher."

"Whoa, did you call Markus 'wise'? Man you _must_ have hit your head on something hard."

"We do that regularly. Mostly against other krogan."

"Hey, while I'm enjoying this game as much as the next man here, I'm getting hungry and all we have in the fridge is beer."

Wrex gave an affirming grunt. Alex gave a more verbal answer. "Yeah I'm in."

Alex did a search of nearby restaurants that served levio compatible food. It took her a few minutes to find somewhere that they could eat at. Sonja meanwhile just kept scratching behind Urz's ear and watched the game, an empty beer in her other hand.

"Here we go, City Ten has a couple of places we could eat. Hm..."

"How expensive are they?"

"It's not that. It's the names. They're all numbers."

Sonja offered a guess. "Geth?"

"Geth." Alex confirmed.

The humans grabbed a pair of jackets. The territories the Geth inhabited on Rannoch were more extreme in terms of temperature. Most of it was cold. It was a mutual agreement the quarians made with the geth. Geth had no preference for temperature until it reached over 300 Celsius.

"Urz, come," Wrex barked. The varren jumped down from the couch and ran quickly to the krogan's side.

Sonja was the last one out, locking the door behind her. What she saw though made her and the others' jaw drop; it was three dozen quarian marines and two bulldozers.

One of the quarians stepped forward. He was dressed in a pale off-white suit with a red clothed hood.

"Ah, good. Colonel, I was hoping you'd be here to see this." She couldn't quite remember where she had met him, but her gut told her he was an asshole. Of course, part of her gut was being influenced by his heavily armed escorts and demeaning attitude. "After we first met I wanted to fix your little attitude problem."

_'Oh fucking bag of donkey dicks.'_ It was Gerrel. At this point, she was going to get an earful from her brother. There'd likely be political repercussions, but she was more worried about her brother. And of course, he'd likely tell their mother and she'd get an earful from her too as well.

Urz dropped low and started snarling at Gerrel. She had to admire his perceptibly. Animals were often a better judge of character than most sentients.

"I suggest you keep your feral animal on it's leash. I'd hate to see it get hurt."

"That 'feral animal' has more common sense than you, you inbreed pyjack!" Wrex defended.

"I wasn't talking about the varren." Urz's snarl deepened as Wrex's own sneer joined the stare down.

"Wrex," Sonja warned, "don't do it. We'll deal with this. The usual way."

"No, I don't think you will. You three are violating quarian territory, illegally seized land that has been designated as an industrial zone. Frankly, this is a good thing. The land here isn't safe for habitation. It's toxic for organic life over prolonged exposure."

"Really, guy? I've worked in planetary geology for over a decade. There's nothing hazardous about this place. I mean, the windows will take in the midday sun pretty bad, but that's about it."

"Hmph. You know nothing of our world, off-lander. Or how it works."

"And you know nothing about land. Six years college at ANWU, fronter scouting on twenty-two different worlds. Long story short, I know dirt and I know it very well. This land is safe."

"Well, I spoke with the head of Agriculture Office. He disagrees with your assessment. Visin! Start the bulldozer." The large yellow and black vehicle started up with a hearty growl. "Romm, Raal, get these trespassers out of here."

Eight quarians moved to pull Sonja, Alex and Wrex out of the way of the dozer. Four were for Wrex alone. Two more tried to corral Urz, who kept jumping out of their entrapment every time they thought they had him.

Sonja flipped one of the marines over, then rammed her knee into the other. Briefly looking back she saw Wrex pushing three of them with the third on his back, trying to subdue him but to no avail. Alex, however, was being pulled away by the two who initially went after her.

What she couldn't see was the house being pushed sideways as the dozer plowed into it.

"Sir, it won't go down!" The operator yelled over the roar of his vehicle.

"Then hit it again!"

Sonja smacked both her attackers in the jaw, taking a pistol from the second one. She fired a round from the Arc pistol to one of the quarians. The round stuck him in the leg but he went into spasms for a few seconds before collapsing on the ground where he continued twitching for a few more seconds. The weapon had been modified to incapacitate organic targets without killing them. Painfully so it seemed.

She trained it on the driver at the same time she heard an M-3 Predator cock behind her head. For a brief second she wondered if she'd been a soldier for too long that she could identify what kind of weapon it was, simply by the sound it makes when a fresh thermal clip is put into the sink dump.

"Go ahead Colonel. Nothing would make me happier right now."

She slowly raised her hand with the stolen pistol in it rather than risk a bullet in the head.

"Well I don't know, if you got that stick out of your ass I'm pretty sure you'd be feeling _much_ better."

* * *

"Okay, could you just tell me; do I have a home to come back to right now?" Markus asked interrupting his sister's explanation of what happened over the last few days on her end.

"_Yes and no. No, the one you built is nothing more than a pile of rubble. Gerrel planted explosives all over it and turned it to little pieces of dust. Yes, you do have a house. I contacted the geth. A quick name drop and filling in with what happened and they got you something. Nice beach front property. Inland beach of course. I know how you're all worried about being washed away. They said 'we have repaid 3.43% of our debt'.__"_

"You're serious about Gerrel? He actually gave the order to arrest you and crush the house?"

"_Virgins have been less excited about getting laid than he was."_

"Fucking bastard."

"_Guess it's a good thing you're dead. Maybe now he'll lay off."_

"Let's hope. Send Joker the new landing coordinates. We'll be touching down in little over a day."

"_Will do. Figured you should know that Alex was sent back to Alliance space. As a political dignitary, they couldn't throw Wrex off-planet as easily."_

"So where is he right now?"

"_Holding cell in Rayya."_

"Yeah, that figures. How much to get him out?"

"_Six hundred fifty thousand. Damned extortion of you ask me. And Gerrel isn't the only one. I heard Izzie bitching about how the Foreign Shipping Office tried screwing her over. She said that they offered her half her fee for twice the amount of cargo.__"_

Markus sighed. It wasn't all that hard to figure out what was going on. "Shouldn't be surprised. Three hundred years trying to take your home back and someone else does it while making peace with the same people who you've been waging an on-off war with. Despite the geth giving them a serious assist on getting started, the feel like they need to not only catch up with the other Council races, they need to stick it to them as well for all the crap they've taken."

"_So, it's a one-way pissing contest. Awesome. How long you think they'll be at it?"_

"Few years. Wouldn't bet much more than five in total."

"_Great. I take it you'll be swinging by Rayya beforehand?"_

"Well someone needs to bail Wrex out. Honestly, I'm surprised he hasn't been thrown behind bars sooner."

"_I'll get going then. I know you still have to call the rest of the family, plus a few of your old crew."_

"Thanks, Sonnie." She closed the QEC.

He sighed as he stepped back. Two down and it had only taken forty minutes so far. By the time he would be done, it would be halfway between lunch and dinner.

The last week had not been kind to him. He was roped into hunting down a condemned killer, beaten up by mercenaries, beaten up by the aforementioned killer, stabbed by the again aforementioned killer, and while he was away his new house, which had cost him a financial arm, had been demolished. He sighed again.

"Long week," he muttered to himself.


	29. Chapter 28

**A/N:** I do apologize once more for the 5 1/2 month break. I'm also ceasing the opening song lyrics. The plain fact is, I'm running out of songs I know will work with the chapter. Plus I don't want to use them all up before I hit the wedding arc. In any case, please, enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 28  
Late Night Talks

May 20th, 2187

Agent 22 had to report to her superior. Locating a secured line was difficult. With all the construction around, she suspected that someone forgot to lock up. After an hour of wandering she finally found somewhere she could get a signal out. It wasn't exactly secure, but it was public enough that the call would be among dozens made a day, possibly hundreds.

The early morning hours made it easier to find someplace isolated. Combining that with the half-moon in view of the cold sky, it concealed her features from anyone who saw here.

She immediately dialled one of the handful of numbers she could use in the field on an unsecured line. "This is Agent 22. I need to connect to Handler 15."

"_Just a moment,"_ the voice on the other end of the line said. As was standard, the video feed was nothing but snow. A safety precaution the organization took. As was the use of voice scramblers. _"Connecting you now."_

The screen gave a quick blip. It went from snow... to snow. _"You're late. You were supposed to have contacted me days ago."_ It was just like her handler to be a complete stickler for protocol. She wondered if her handler had ever served time in the field.

"Apologizes. But there were complications."

"_Explain."_

"Kirby came close, but ultimately failed."

"_I trust he was terminated before too much information was revealed."_

"Yes. One of the Spectres, Sirilia dispatched him before he could say anything to compromising."

"_Good. And Shepard? There have been some conflicting rumors."_

"You should know as well I, 15, it's bad to trust rumors on your own."

"_Don't jerk me around, 22. You know what we can do, can't you?"_

"Lot of talk for a voice on a vid-line. Look, I have information about Shepard. Do you want it, or would you prefer I keep quiet and you spend another couple of months just to find him?"

"_Very well. Relay the information."_

"Shepard was put in critical condition. Kirby made a mistake; he went after Shepard by proxy. The next attempt, it needs to be directly against those around him. It looks like it's his one external weakness."

"_Excellent work, 22. We'll start making preparations for another move on him. The Boss wants this done quickly."_ The 'Boss' was the leader of Agent 22 and Handler 15's organization. No name, no race, no gender. The information on whoever Lord was, it was held even tighter than Cerberus' Illusive Man.

"Did you not just hear what I said? He's going to ground. If we make a move on him now, he'll suspect me. I can't risk it. Besides, I think I have another way to get to Shepard."

Her handler sighed. _"Okay, I'll take it up with Command 4."_

"Forget going through any command groups and take it straight to our leader."

Fifteen scoffed. _"You mean the boss? Why? I don't have a death wish."_

It was a bit of a fair point. Anyone who was even a risk of rocking the boat had their employment terminated by a bullet during the next communication they made as proof. "I've got an encryption code that'll keep your tenure." Agent 22 uploaded her secured code. An agent only got a single code they could use. It basically meant, that their neck was on the line should anything go wrong.

"_I'll right, I've got it. What about you?"_

"I'll be sticking around. I think I can get close enough to get some valuable information."

"_Just remember not to get too close. They're _all_ disposable." _With that, her handler closed the channel.

She gave an annoyed sigh before hanging up. "Ass," she grumbled.

* * *

Sonja was tapping her foot impatiently as the elevator on the _Normandy_ rose from the cargo bay up to the Deck 3. She woke up in the middle of the night and decided to go for a run to get her energy out. On a cruiser or anything larger, she could have just gone down to the gym and pushed some weights around or used the treadmill there. But on a frigate that wasn't an option. If the ship was still in space her options would have been to twiddle her thumbs or watch a vid. One would have driven her insane, the other would just wake her up too much.

The cold air kept her body temperature down so she didn't build up a sweat, though she still planned to take a hot shower before returning to her bunk.

Walking past the mess hall, she caught Garrus out of her peripherals. What was he still doing up? It must have been almost six in the morning. Of course, the constant traveling between systems caused some extreme travel fatigue among the crew. She wasn't above it. And it looked like he wasn't either.

Her hand was hovering over the hologram controls to the women's restroom. "Aw, screw it," she whispered to herself. With a slight shuffle, she joined Garrus at the dining table.

"Hey there big guy. Can't sleep?"

He lifted his head off the table. "Is it that late?"

"I think you mean to say 'is it that early', but yes."

"What time is it?"

"It's around six in the morning."

"On what clock?"

"Council standard. So it's..." she checked her omni-tool date conversion unit. She knew she couldn't do the math in her head. "about three-twenty in the morning local."

Garrus' head went _thunk!_ as it fell back down to the table. "Ooohh... jeez."

"How long have you been up?"

It took him a minute to figure out the answer to her question. "A day and a half, give or take."

"Whoa." Even for humans, staying fully conscious for 36 hours on Earth was impressive. "So, what's going on?"

"I don't know. Just can't sleep."

"When did it start?"

"Around... two weeks ago. Would have been about the same time I was assigned to go after Arjen Kirby. But it was only two or three times."

Sonja's fingers on her left hand started snapping quickly. "Oh-ho-ho... I think I know what's goin' o-on." Her voice had a sing-song beat to it.

"Um, could you tell me what it is?"

"Mmmm... no. Look I'm sorry, but I think you might need to figure this one out on your own. It won't be as big if you're told what it is." She tapped a quick beat out on the table before getting back up.

Garrus was slowly shaking his head, clearly confused. "I am so lost."

Sonja had a smirk on her face as she went into the restroom. Time for a nice shower, she thought to herself. The hot water was exactly what she needed.

When she got out twelve minutes later, Garrus was still sitting in the mess. She shook her head in disappointment. Maybe the guy would figure it out. She kinda hoped that he did. But it was his life, not hers. She could point him in a direction, but that's all she'd do.

Climbing into the top bunk on the second row, humming an old melody to herself. It was a little trick her mother had taught her. Inside of five minutes, she was asleep and dreaming.

* * *

Markus was sitting in the ship's cockpit feet up, looking at the early morning sky. It was a myriad of deep purples, blues and black with countless stars shining in the sky. There was something about looking up at a star filled sky that always made him feel a little better whenever he felt off.

"_Shepard,"_ EDI's voice broke the silence he had been... for a lack of a better word... stewing in. _"Wouldn't you be more comfortable be with Tali on Deck Three?"_

"I would, but I can't get comfortable. She keeps rubbing against the scars. They're still sore."

"_I thought the pain medications would have counteracted any irritations."_

"That's why I only bite my tongue off when they're irritated."

"_That clarifies a number of questions I had."_

"Oh really? How many?"

"_Seventy-nine."_

"Wow. That's a lot."

"_All of them were on why you would choose to be up here as opposed to with Ms. Zorah. Statistically speaking, what you're doing is atypical behavior for organics."_

"Gee, thanks for calling me a twisted cuckoo, EDI."

"_With the total number of organics in the galaxy, the number of people who exhibit similar behavioral traits are in the millions. Strictly speaking, it is not too unusual."_

"Still not making me feel any better."

"_Apologies, Shepard. There is something I wish to ask you."_

"What is it?"

"_At what point in your relationship did you know you wanted to spend your life Tali?"_

Shepard let out a heavy sigh. "That's uh, that's a tough one."

He started thinking back. "I'd say... it was some point after we took Rannoch back. When she said she wanted to stay with me." A grin was creeping up his face as he spoke, remembering the day quite fondly.

* * *

_Tali walked slowly to the cliff edge as the sun slowly set. Shepard was standing with her. The reality of what they had just done was sinking in for her. She_

"_Shopping for another house?" He asked._

_He could make her smile at the strangest things. "Beachfront property," she coyly responded._

"_You had best claim it fast. It's a buyer's market." He was standing beside her now, both only a foot and a half away from the edge._

_She shook her head at his bad joke and sat down, feet just off the edge. He followed her suite joining her on the rocky surface._

"_Are you okay? I know working with the geth won't be particularly easy for you." She had been wanting to tell him this for a while. Now was as good of a time as any._

"_I'm not staying. I want to come with you."_

_She saw him look down at his feet. "Didn't want to ask. Actually, that's not true. I wanted to more than anything but I... I didn't want to force you to choose."_

"_I think you've earned a few favors with the fleet."_

"_Well I'm asking them to go to join the war. Figured that makes us even."_

"_If they were staying away from Rannoch, sure. But they'll be here sooner or later."_

"_Maybe sooner. We did just kill one of them after all."_

"_So I'm coming with you to try and stop them. If... you think I can help."_

"_Are you sure you want to do this?"_

"_Yeah. I look at all this... this picture of hope and peace. But all I can see, is everyone I've lost. My team on Haestrom, my father. Even Legion." A brief chuckle escaped her. "I'm mourning a _geth_. How crazy am I?"_

"_Not very. He saved your life on the Collector base. And both of ours just now. It's natural."_

_She sighed as she stood back up. Shepard however, gave a slight groan._

"_It's beautiful, though. Isn't it?" She was looking at the landscape in the distance._

_Shepard though still hadn't taken his eyes off of her. "Yeah, yeah it is." He inched closer to her, almost within arms' reach._

_Tali's head slunk down. "It'll be years before we can live out of our suits completely, but right now..." she took her mask off, taking a deep breath as she did so. "Right now, I have this."_

_He could only see the edge of her nose, from the angle, but he knew she was smiling. Despite losing a friend he owed his life to several times over, he felt happy. It hurt, yes, but seeing her look over the canyon; being able to properly take in that she was home for the first time..._

Don't you _ever_ make her cry, Markus,_ he thought to himself._

* * *

"Why are you asking me?"

"_I am trying to calculate the probability that Joker may propose."_

"EDI, don't get me wrong, you two are wonderful for each other. Really. But..."

"_Do you find the idea of an organic and synthetic in a romantic relationship uncomfortable?"_

"I'll admit it, I find it a bit odd. But I also seem to recall being the one to push the two of you together like a pair of negatively charged magnets before you figured it out. By the way, where is Joker? I thought he slept here."

"_He's in the AI core."_

"The AI co—EDI... are you two going at it right now? Because if you are and you're talking to me, that would just be... wrong. On _so_ many levels."

"_You do not need to worry, Shepard. Joker is currently sleeping and my physical body is in standby mode at the moment."_

"Okay then, so what's Joker doing down there?"

"_I requested that he sleep in a proper bed. Since I primarily exist within the core room, he asked, in layman's terms, if he could move in."_

"Damn. Well, remember what I told you on the Citadel; no matter what happens, enjoy it. But as for specifics, I'm not exactly the best person to ask."

"_Why is that?"_

"Let's just say... I haven't had the best history when it comes to stable relationships. I mean, for a long time, I was against the idea of ever getting married. I just never thought it would happen. Military life, doesn't leave much room for starting a family."

"_Doesn't your own family situation counter-indicate what you just said?"_

"No, no not really. Sonya raised me almost as much as my own mother did. It's uh, it's something that she, my mother that is, that she always regretted with us. She was a front-line naval soldier, my father was Alliance requisitions which meant even when he came home he was usually working. It wasn't fare for her.

"For as much as I say I didn't get to have a regular childhood, Sonya's was non-existent. She missed out on middle school graduation because I was sick with Sathur Summer Flu. You ever see someone with it?"

"_No, however I am aware of the symptoms of those with Sathur Summer Flu."_

"As someone who spent two weeks sick with it, trust me, the description doesn't begin to compare to the hell of being sick for two weeks, skull feeling like it's two sizes too big for your skin and two sizes too small for your brain, and a general feeling that if you so much as move an inch in any direction, you'll throw everything up you've eaten in the last year and a half.

"Through it all, as much as she complained, she never once would leave me when she had an opportunity to help. After Akuze, I wanted to die. I really did. I buried myself in work, modifying omni-tools, vehicle maintenance, armor customizations, anything to avoid seeing their faces, glaring at me, accusing me of letting them die. I could barely sleep, rarely ate, and all the while pulled 18 hour days. After a week of it, not only could I barely stand, but Sonnie took me out, got me the special kind of drunk where I spill my guts."

"Funny thing is, it's been almost seven years and she still won't tell me what I said that night. As much as I'm curious, I also don't want to know. Funny isn't it? Well, I hope you don't mind, but I think I'm going to go to sleep now."

With that, Markus drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep in the chair. His feet were still up on the console, chair reclined for extra relaxation. As the sun came up, a faint smile came over Markus' face.

* * *

**A/N:** So there it is, the first chapter. Since the break, I've become fairly self-conscious about my writing. To that end, if you would please leave a review. Lemme know what did work, what didn't and so on.


	30. Chapter 29

Chapter 29  
Running out of Choices

May 26th, 2187

Tali and Shepard had been living in the newly built house for the last three days. Garrus, Sirilia, Wrex and Sonya had also been staying in the guest bedrooms. In building the house, Markus thought the geth went a little overboard in the size. Six full sized bedrooms not counting the master suite, three bathrooms and a basement the size of the main floor of the house. A balcony ran across the entire second floor connecting the master suite to the two guest bedrooms.

The basement held the same square footage of as the first and second floors but was three feet taller. The increased size was to accommodate the weights and sparring room on one side, complete with a work bench for weapons modifications and adjustments and upgrades to Shepard's artificial arm. The other side had a movie theatre that could accommodate the entire extended family of Shepard including the surviving crews of the SR1 and SR2.

Being made of a Rannochian wood, the extravagant house had the feel of a small wood cabin despite how large and spacious it is.

At present, Garrus, Tali, and the Shepard siblings were sitting on the couch on the main floor watching the Westerlund Galaxy News. Markus was growing increasingly furious with the story that was being broken.

"_The Citadel Council, with a vote of four to five, construction on the project dubbed 'the Arkology Project'. Human councilor Radomir Krall was quoted saying "we must rebuild our worlds before we begin looking to build new worlds". Krogan and batarian ambassadors were quick to follow suit in Krall's very vocal opinions, saying that the Council seemed more focused on appearing strong, rather than _acting_ strong,"_ al-Jilani said.

"Aptal domuz kafili herifler! I do _not_ believe it!" Markus yelled at the television screen.

"Hey, hey," Sonya growled. "Watch your language. There are ladies present."

"Two of them don't understand what I just said and you, I'm not sure 'lady' is the appropriate word to describe you."

Sonya threw a small handful of pretzels at her brother's head. "More womanly than you. But that's like saying someone isn't as fat as a planet. What are you getting so worked up about anyways? Al-Jilani hasn't put out a smear piece on the Alliance in almost a year."

"It's not her. It's _them_. Damned Council trying to show that they're still in control. There's still fires burning on Sur'Kesh, Thessia is on the border of civil war because of the government hiding the beacon, Bekenstein is little more than a smoothed glass surface. All they do is what makes them look good, not what _is_ good for the galaxy." Markus shook his head slowly, still frustrated. "I'm changing. Maybe there's something on CMN."

He picked the remote up and switched over to the classic movie network which showed old films from every race in the galaxy, each species having their own channel. The first one he switched to was an old Earth movie that caught his attention. It was familiar but he couldn't quite place why.

Two soldiers in full combat armor were standing on a hill next to a battered and battle worn wall with several holes blown into it. One wore a dark gray, the other a medium blue. Both had helmets with a gold faceplate so the viewers couldn't tell any detail about the characters except for their voices when they spoke.

"_He knows, uh, all about your A.I game. He dated Tex,"_ the blue soldier said.

"_Agent Texas? Um, how can a person—"_ the gray and yellow one started but was interrupted by a shot flying between them coming from the direction of the wall.

"_Fuck!" _a third voice yelled when the sniper round missed.

"_Sniper! Get down!"_

"_Huh?" _The gray one moved behind a rock for cover. The blue soldier stood where he was, confused.

"_Okay, that was your one warning shot_," the off camera voice yelled. _"The next one's is goin' right between your eyes!"_

"_Private Caboose! Get down!"_ the gray one yelled.

"_Wait a minute..."_

"_All right, I warned ya. Sayonara, biatch!"_ the voice fired another round at Caboose. Like the first one though, it missed. _"Aw, come on! What the fuck?!"_

"_Caboose!"_ the blue soldier still remained in clear view of the would-be sniper trying to kill him.

"_I know that voice!_ The camera facing Caboose began to slowly zoom out. _"Church! Church! It's me! Your all time best friend!"_

"_Caboose? Caboose is that you?"_ the voice said. He sounded curious though a little scared.

"_Yes! Church, it's me!"_ Church began shooting at Caboose, more furiously than before. _"I have missed you so much. Did you miss me?"_ Caboose seemed to be oblivious to the four rounds that zipped by his head.

"_Fuck! I missed him!"_

"Geez, Mom would kill us if she knew we were watching this again," Sonya said.

"I knew I'd seen this somewhere, but I can't place it," Markus said. "What is it?"

"RvB. We watched it on Riverdale, Theta Eridani system. You were only six or seven so I'm not surprised you don't remember."

The others continued watching the 150 year old comedy that was continuing to run on the screen while Sonya

"I _haated_ Riverdale. Place was a—"

"Believe me, you have absolutely no idea."

Riverdale, despite the name, was one of the Alliance's less than peaceful colonies. After 15 years of borderline chaos, the military sent 400 military troops and their families. Among them were the Shepards. Several weeks into the tour, a massive gang war erupted and martial war was declared to avoid it spreading to the nearby worlds.

"You didn't have any of the Torches following you, looking for new members. Anyhow, I'm gonna make a food run. Anyone want anything in particular for dinner?" Sonya said, trying to change the tone of the conversation.

"If you can pull it off, an extra large pizza pineapple, sardines, jalapenos and onions would be great. With bacon of course," Markus said with a slight grin on his face.

"Sure. Would you like me to wash your feet while I'm at it?"

"Please do, I've got an itch on the bottom of my foot that I just can't quite seem to shake."

She sent him a smirk before leaving the room, leaving the others to return to the movie.

A few minutes later Wrex retreated to one of the spare bedrooms on the first floor. With two walls between them and over the TV, the 'whump!' was still heard by the others in the living room. Several more minutes went by with no word yet from Sonya on food.

"_Normandy_ is parked right outside. Shouldn't have taken her that long to get something," Garrus said.

Markus thought about it for a few seconds. Garrus was right. It shouldn't have taken her more than ten minutes to reach the SR-2 and come back with an arm full of MREs. The kitchen had a full assortment of the latest appliances but as geth have no need for food, they didn't stock it with any perishables. This in turn meant that every time they wanted something to eat, they needed to go to the _Normandy_.

Opening his omni-tool, Shepard tried opening a video link, but couldn't connect. _She didn't pick up? Why wouldn't she pick up?_ The only answer he could think of was that she was flying a shuttle, but why take the time to head out? It didn't make sense.

* * *

Sonya had taken one of the shuttles from the _Normandy _and headed for City Seven, a geth port city. The ship's second shuttle was a few seconds behind her, its navigation slaved to her shuttle. She had already made the pickup and was on her way back to the SR-2 and her brother's house.

The problem was, the closest port city, City Seven, was more than an hour away by shuttle. She had been gone to 'get food' for more than 80 minutes already. More than a half dozen calls had come in and she ignored all of them. By this point he had to have known something was off. She knew this much for sure. But he could never find out what it was. Not until she made it back. Not until everything was in place.

Everything was almost in place. All she needed was a little more time. Just a little more time.

* * *

Markus had given up on calling his sister after more than an hour and a half. Whatever she was doing, she didn't want to be disturbed. If he had learned only two things about his eldest sister, it was that she could always match him in a fight and that when she wanted to be left alone, he had damned well better keep his distance.

With the others becoming hungrier and hungrier he elected himself to be the one to get dinner.

Walking up the ramp on the _Normandy_, he stopped dead in his tracks. Both Kodiak shuttles were missing. He immediately radioed in. "Ash, you there? We got a problem. Sonya's off the grid and both shuttles are missing."

"_What? What are you talking about? Both shuttles are still in the bay. EDI, do you know anything about this?"_

The AI didn't respond.

"Hey, EDI, you there? What happened to the shuttles?"

There was still no response.

"Ash, I'm heading to the core room. Have whoever is on duty in engineering meet me on the way."

"_Sure thing."_

Shepard rushed into the elevator and slammed the button to close it. The door seemed to shut at an agonizingly slow speed. With EDI on the fritz and Sonya missing, a sinking feeling was taking over his gut.

Mercifully, the door finally sealed. Reaching Deck Four, the doors opened. In front of him was Gabriella Daniels.

"I heard from Commander Williams that you needed my help. Something wrong?" There hadn't been enough time to fill her in. While he was only in part aware of this, his worry was starting to cloud the higher functions of his brain.

"'Wrong'? My sister and two of your shuttles are missing and EDI isn't answering. 'Wrong'? Yes, I think something is very wrong." He slammed the holographic controls causing them to flicker out of focus for several seconds.

Ignoring Chakwas, who was on duty, Shepard rushed through sickbay and into the core room. "Start on why EDI's silent. I've got sensor tracking," Shepard said diving into the data files.

For the next ten minutes nothing was said between Shepard and Daniels. There was no other sound except for the occasional hiss from the liquid argon system.

"I, uh, I think I have something," Daniels said officially breaking the silence.

"Well do you have something or don't you?" Shepard snapped.

"I'm not sure. There's... something wrong with the recent memory. It looks like its—" she was interrupted by Shepard pushing her aside to look at the data.

"No, no, no. This isn't right," he muttered. "According to this... I-I don't understand. According to this, the whole ship is undergoing a level nine diagnostic. But if that were true..."

"If it was level nine then everything would be offline," Daniels said. "Wait a minute, if the ship is going through a level nine, then EDI would be disconnected from most of the systems in case of an error with one of the ship's systems it wipes the programming and uploads default program from the emergency databox."

Shepard said, "and if EDI is connected to the program at the time of the wipe and swap then she'd end up falling apart on herself, the wipe moving in through her coding and causing a... a fatal cascade. Whoever did this was trying to protect her. But why? If Sonya dropped off the grid like this, why bother to keep EDI intact unless..."

"Unless what?"

His brain had kicked into high gear as he tried to figure out a reasonable explanation as to why EDI would have been neutralized without being deleted or damaged, her sister off the grid and something that would require the use of both shuttles. For several minutes he stood there in a near trance like state, staring at the data screen. Every single possibility that came to him required twisting facts to work.

After 20 minutes, Daniels finally convinced him to return to his house saying she'd contact him as things developed. EDI would be occupied for another three hours so she wouldn't be able to help until after the diagnostic was finished.

He was standing in the elevator with the door closing. He knew Sonya was tough, but for her to just disappear so perfectly didn't make sense. She always carried something she could use as a weapon, not counting the years of hand-to-hand training she'd gone through not just in the military, but the sparring matches they'd have whenever they had time. As a sniper her hearing had to be excellent since much of her attention was focused on targets hundreds of meters away that she could see only through her scope.

His hand shot out and grabbed the top shutter. Straining, it took him a second to activate the safety for the doors to reopen. He had completely forgotten why he had originally come. _I completely forgot about dinner. Damn, Tali's probably mad at me._ It had been more than half an hour since he left. The ship was parked only two minutes away from the house and he'd been gone for more than ten times as long as was necessary.

Zipping around the elevator quickly, he ran into the small kitchen and grabbed everything with 'dextro' written on it and left.

* * *

She was only a half mile away now. Before getting too close, Sonya landed both shuttles.

"Come on, come on," she said to the occupants as they exited.

While still a few dozen feet from the house Sonya opened her omni-tool and called her brother but left the video off. It took a moment before he finally connected.

* * *

Markus was enjoying the movie marathon as best as he could. Daniels still hadn't contacted him with an update and no word yet from Sonya. He apologized several times while cooking a stew-like meal. To Garrus and Sirilia's chagrin, most of the food in it was comprised of vegetables. While it had taken quite a while to cook it, but the smell of it made his mouth water. _If only I could eat dextro food,_ he thought. _Oh well._

He served it into three separate bowls along with a beer for everyone. Given what happened at the Citadel party and after Horizon, Tali received a light beer.

The next movie in the series had begun when Markus' omni-tool began to chime. Before he could even look at it, he opened it and said "Daniels, tell me you got something."

"_What? Daniels? No, it's me, Markie."_

Everyone turned to look at him. He could feel their eyes on him without looking up. He gestured for them to remain quiet.

"Where the hell you been? You said you were going out for food over two hours ago."

"_Sorry about that. Something came up and I needed to get to a nearby city."_ What she said felt wrong. He had made a run into one of the nearby cities two days before. It hadn't taken more than half an hour round trip. So what could take her so long?

"_I just got back. There's someone here who wants to say 'hi' to you. Figured you'd be able to show off the _Normandy_. What do you say?"_

Markus looked between Garrus, Sirilia and Tali. They each held a serrated knife from the kitchen and gave him a nod.

"Okay, just gimme a minute to get some clothes on. Tali and—"

"_Hey, hey, hey! We've had this conversation before, remember? I don't ever want to hear details about your sex life. Got it?"_

"Sorry. Anyways, like I said, gimme a minute to get some pants on."

He closed the channel. Taking a few seconds to decide his options, he began to form a plan.

"We gotta wake Wrex. Things are about to go very, _very_ bad."


	31. Chapter 30

Chapter 30  
Uncomfortable Decisions

May 26th, 2187

"Grrr..." Wrex growled as Garrus shook the lumbering krogan awake. "You had better have come with food."

"Sorry, Wrex, but no food. But we do have a good fight coming up for you."

In a flash, Wrex leaped up, still wearing his armor with a wide, slasher grin. "Who are we gonna kill?"

"Little more complicated than that," Garrus said. He filled Wrex in on the plan as he moved onto one of the balconies on the second floor, waiting for Shepard to signal.

* * *

Markus stood by the front door. His omni-tool was just a few keystrokes away from activating his dual omni-blades that he set to activate on cryo and electrical charge. This time, he was going to get information out of whoever was coming for him.

Tali stood a few feet back, the knife she regularly kept strapped on her boot was in her hand, ready to back him up. Garrus, Sirilia and Wrex were in position by now on the second floor, ready to jump them from above.

"You okay? Are you sure you're ready to do this?" Tali asked.

Markus could hear how concerned she was. How worried she was that he might have to attack his own sister. He felt half sick, half enraged. She was one of the most straight laced people he'd known. To think that she could have been indoctrinated, part of him considered that maybe taking the Crucible's third option, as disgusting as it was to him, might have been better.

* * *

"_What? Where am I?" Shepard said. Blood loss was leaving him borderline delirious and likely hallucinating. After all, there was a translucent holographic child talking to him in the middle of a... where he was he wasn't certain the last thing he remembered was shooting the Illusive Man then sitting down with—Anderson!_

_Anderson had passed out. He tried waking him but couldn't do much. His equipment was destroyed and the Crucible still hadn't activated. He had to leave him behind._

"_The Citadel. It's my home," the child said._

_He looked around. In the background, the allied fleet was still battling the Reapers, but it had wound down considerably and not for the better. Just as he knew would happen, they were loosing. Badly._

"_Who are you?"_

"_I am the Catalyst," the child said._

Okay, I'm hallucinating,_ Shepard thought to himself. It took two attempts for him to fully form the thought in his head._

"_I thought the Citadel was the Catalyst."_

"_No, the Citadel is a part of me."_

_He may be hallucinating, but didn't have much else he could do but risk playing along with it. At the very least, his subconscious which was playing itself out might give him some information he didn't have yet. "I need to stop the Reapers. Do you know how I can do that?"_

"_Perhaps. I control the Reapers. They are my solution." The child walked down the single gangway, Shepard trying desperately to keep up. His legs and nerves felt like they were frozen and on fire, moving slowly as though he were trudging through water up to his waist._

"_Solution? To what?" Part of him didn't want to know how badly the problem had to be for a measure this drastically to be taken._

"_Chaos," it said. Shepard stopped dead in his tracks._

How could _this_ be the solution to chaos? Sovereign alone caused enough chaos to nearly tear Citadel space apart. How could countless hundred bloodthirsty killing machines be a solution to chaos? It also frustrated him that an actual answer wasn't given to his simple question.

_The child continued, not hesitating in breaking pace. "The created will always rebel against their creators. But we found away to stop that from happening, a way to restore order."_

"_How can wiping out all organic life bring order?" The sentence was something of an oxymoron, but he refused to believe that the only options were death and order or life and chaos._

"_No. We harvest advanced civilizations, leaving the younger ones alone. Just as we left your people alone the last time we were here."_

_There were ten thousand ways he could argue that if he had enough blood in his body rather than drained and dropped over the last quarter mile he'd trekked so far. "But you killed the rest" was all he could say._

"_We helped them ascend so they could make way for new life, storing the old life in Reaper form." The Catalyst stopped to gaze at a Reaper dreadnought that was engaging one of the few intact flotillas, a group of asari and human cruisers._

"_I think we'd rather keep our own form."_

"_No, you can't... Without us to stop it, synthetics would destroy all organics. We have created the cycle so that never happens. That is the solution."_

"_We're at war with your solution right now. How many have been lost to your 'solution'?"_

"_You may be in conflict with my Reapers, but they are not interested in war."_

"_I find that hard to believe." Some of the blood had returned to his head and was thinking more clearly which is why he chose those words rather than what he thought. Openly insulting the trillion plus year old AI controlling the Reapers would likely result in the last mistake he would ever make._

"_When fire burns, is it at war? Is it in conflict? Or is it simply doing what it was created to do? We are no different. We harvest your bodies, your knowledge, your creations. We preserve it to be reborn in the form of a new Reaper."_

All that, and only one of those abominations would be born. Countless millions of voices, screaming in agony for countless eternities and for the birth of a single demon.

"_Like a cleansing fire, we restore balance. New life, both organic and synthetic, can once again flourish."_

"_After all these years, you still haven't figured it out. The single most defining part of organic life is to make our _own_ choices, good and bad. You take away our will and we're nothing more than cogs in a machine. That's not life."_

"_You have even more choice than you know. The fact that you are here, the first organic in history proves it. But it also proves that my solution won't work anymore."_

_He couldn't say that he didn't like the sound of that. "So what do we do now?"_

"_Find a new solution."_

_There was something bugging him about all of this. "Why tell me all of this? Why bother helping me, one of the lowly organics you're trying to harvest?"_

"_You have altered the variables."_

"_What do you mean?" Killing three Reapers made that much of an impact? If he had known that, he would have recommended the _Normandy_ join the front lines for a few weeks, get some more kills._

"_The Crucible changed me, created new... possibilities. But I can't make them happen."_

No, because if you could you would have already done so, wouldn't you?

"_If there is to be a new solution, you must act. It is now within your power to destroy us," the Crucible said looking at a large set of mechanisms on the right side._

Well then, I can't say I don't mind having that._ He felt a significant portion of his strength return. Not enough to go hand-to-hand with a pair of Marauders like he could before Harbinger's blast nearly killed him, but enough to blow the Reapers back to hell whatever it took._

"_But be warned: others will be destroyed as well. The Crucible will not discriminate. All synthetics will be targeted. Even you are partially synthetic."_

_He knew what that meant. Every VI and AI would be hard wiped. That meant Legion's sacrifice would have been in vain. What's more, he'd be committing mass murder of an entire species. Adding to that was EDI. He didn't see her as his ship, not even as an AI, but a real, person. Hell, he'd spent weeks making both subtle and obvious pokes to get her and Joker together._

_If he killed her, then he'd never be able to forgive himself. And the wrath that Joker would bring down when he found out... he couldn't betray them. Not like this. Not if there was another way._

"_Then I won't activate the Crucible. There has to be another way..."_

"_There is. You could use the energy to seize control of the Reapers yourself."_

"_I'll be damned," Shepard whispered to himself. "So the Illusive Man was right after all?"_

"_Yes, but he could never have taken control... because we already controlled him."_

"_But... I could?"_

"_After a sense. You will die. You will control us, but you will lose everything you have."_

_Shepard's head was twisting sideways between blood loss and what the Crucible was spinning. "How can I control the Reapers if I'm dead?"_

"_Your physical existence will be dissolved; atomized. But your thoughts, even your memories, will continue. Your connection to your kind will be lost, though you will still be aware of their existence."_

_The thought of Tali mourning him, his family having to bury yet another empty casket._

"_I did not go through all of this just to die again!"_

"_There is a third solution."_

Well it had better be something with all the boom and none of the pain.

"_Synthesis," the Citadel said._

"_Which is...?"_

"_Add your energy to the Crucible's. The chain reaction will combine all synthetic and organic life into a new framework. A new... DNA."_

"_I don't... I don't understand."_

"_Your organic energy, the essence of who you are will be broken down and dispersed."_

"_And then?"_

"_The energy of the Crucible, released in this way, will alter the matrix of all organic life in the galaxy. Organics seek perfection through technology. Synthetics seek perfection through understanding. Organics will be perfected by integrating fully with synthetic technology. Synthetics, in turn, will finally have full understanding of organics._

"_It is the ideal solution. Now that we know that it is possible, it is inevitable we reach synthesis."_

_The memory of conversations he had with Mordin came screaming into his mind, how they talked about cultures advancing faster than were ready, how the uplifing of the krogan people was akin to giving nuclear weapons to cave men. If he went through with the synthesis, he'd be giving every single answer to every question to every race that they weren't ready for, human and alien alike._

"_I'm not doing that. I can't force an entire galaxy to change like that. It's sick."_

"_Synthesis is the final evolution of all life. If you do this, we will leave, ending the harvest and the civilizations will be preserved in the form they now hold. The path of things to come is yours."_

_With things the way they were, the fleets had two hours, three at the most if they moved to a full defensive stance. The exhaustion that Shepard was going through, however, was another matter entirely. He estimated less than forty-five minutes before passing out. In his condition, if he did, it was very likely wouldn't wake up again._

_With two clocks hanging over his head, and three abhorrent choices in front of him, he considered just shooting the Catalyst interface. Checking the M-6 that was barely in his grasp, he saw that he had only two rounds in the clip and no idea how many spare clips were left, he chose against just opening fire on the Catalyst. It was little more than an interface and would continue the culling._

_Two minutes ticked by, his pulse marking each second with a dull thump. The risks of indoctrination by taking control of the Reapers was too high, so that option was out. As was the moral depravity of synthesis. That left him with one option, the lesser of three evils: destroy._

_If he could refine it a little more, he could target the Reapers alone. The idea did have an appeal to him. He was a combat engineer after all. But the brightest engineers and physicists in the galaxy had been working on the Crucible for months and still hadn't been able to get the Crucible to work right._

_Then, as if in a movie, a lightbulb went off in his head. The Alliance engineers hadn't known exactly how the Crucible's energy would be released, so of course it would act like a cudgel. If he could get his hands on it, he might just be able to reshape it into a scalpel._

"_Can I... could the energy released from the Crucible be focused? To target only the Reapers."_

"_It is possible. But you do not have time. Even now, your physical being is waining. You must make a choice now."_

"_You know nothing of organics, say nothing of humans. We don't die because an enemy tells us to."_

_Shepard took two steps before his leg collapsed on him, sending him falling hard onto the cold ground. His head slammed against the ground and he felt himself nearly loose consciousness. His vision became blurry and the few contents in his stomach erupted as he vomited onto the ground._

_Coughing out the last of the stomach acids, blood spurted from his mouth._

"_As I said," the Catalyst said. "You do not have the time to find another option. You must hurry, or the cycle will continue."_

_Gritting his teeth, Shepard's arm reached out, pulling himself forward along the floor. It took him several minutes to reach the capacitor controls. Picking up the M-6, he began to beat against the screen until it gave way. Then he got to doing what he did best: rewiring, soldering, wielding and making minor coding adjustments._

_Blood from the cuts above his eyes began to cloud his vision, slowing him down every few minutes to wipe it out of his eyes._

_For half an hour, he fought to stay awake, to work on the job at hand. All the while he had three words screaming in his mind. No more dead. Kaidan, Legion, Mordin, so many friends. So many more of those who he had served with over the years whose names and faces he had long since forgotten._

_After making what he hoped was the last adjustment, he closed his omni-tool. Standing back up slowly, he picked his M-6 up and aimed it at the center of the control console right above where he had been working._

_All the while, the Catalyst was telling him that he was making a mistake. It only drove him more, assuring him that he was making the right call._

_His hand was shaking as he tried to steady it, make sure he hit the target with the first shot. The effort it was taking to keep it trained on target was so extreme that he'd snap a tendon when he pulled the trigger. Or straight up break the bones in his wrist._

_Turning back to look at the interface, he grinned maliciously at it. "For the countless quadrillions you've already killed, I hope this hurts you, you twisted piece of shit." he turned back to the control panel. Then squeezed the trigger._

_As Shepard had predicted, his wrist snapped. But the ensuing explosion that sent him flying took focus. For the half second he was conscious, that was._

* * *

After all that, he couldn't believe that Sonya, his own sister, would be capable of this. Yes, she'd pull stunts to surprise him in the past, but to actually set him up for an ambush?

He just couldn't believe it. Especially after his first trip to Earth.

* * *

_Years earlier_

"_Come on, you spacer punk." An older teen slammed his foot into a 13 year old Markus' stomach. "I told you already,, you don't screw with the Reds and walk away."_

_Shepard coughed as he laid on his side on the ground in an alleyway. He had accidentally made the mistake of insulting a member of a local gang, the Tenth Street Reds. He was only two years older than Markus, but was nearly three times his size. Two of them, the guy Shepard offended and one of his buddies from the Reds dragged him into an alley and began pounding on him._

_He tried fighting back, but was beaten down harder every time he did. They had already taken all the money and what little he had on him._

"_Get your hands off him, you slimy sacks of sludge!" Markus' eyes snapped open._

_A flurry of red hair dashed across him, sending both of the Reds flying back._

"_Markus, get out of here. Find a cop _fast._" His jaw went slack. Somehow, Sonya had not only been able to get some time off, but she had just saved his ass._

"_Bitch, what the _fuck_ do you think you're doing," one of the Reds said._

"_You better get out of here fast, or you'll be a dead whore. This kid here, he fucked with the Reds. Now you're fucking with us."_

_Sonya's attention was split between the Reds an Markus as she gave him another warning to run._

"_Mistake letting that piece of butcher's meat go. Of course, you got some nice meat yourself, bitch. Gonna hate slicing you up." One of the Reds pulled two switchblades, handing one to his friend._

"_I'm gonna give you empty brained pricks one last chance to run," Sonya warned._

_The Red that had been kicking Markus, running his mouth off charged first, leading with his blade. Rotating with a sidestep at the last second, Sonya dodged the blade. Her left hand slammed into the outside of the Red's elbow causing him to drop the blade and snapping the bone._

_She caught the blade with her free hand and yanked him back by the collar on the red and black jacket he was wearing and threw him to the ground._

_Sliding on top of him, she drove the blade into his hand, piercing it and the ground beneath. He was pinned and screaming in agonizing pain._

_Sonya looked up to the other Red who was shaking, still holding the knife. He was too afraid to run away or attack her._

_Getting back up, the Red beneath Sonya curled over to protect the bloodied hand, unable to grasp it due to the damage to his other arm._

_The second Red began to cry, so Sonya took pity on him. She jerked and said "Boo!"_

_He dropped the knife and ran in the opposite direction, out the other side of the alleyway as fast as he could._

* * *

After all that, all the help she had given him, everything she had given up for him, for it to be like this?

"Markus," Tali's voice snapped him back to the present. "We can do this on our own."

"I can't. She's my sister." He took an unsteady breath. "You know what to do, right?"

Tali gave a shallow nod.

"Okay, then. Let's... let's get this over with." He opened the door and walked outside.

Tali remained by one of the windows, ready to strike. Garrus, Wrex and Sirilia were above him, lying low on the balcony ready to move the second someone went for a weapon.

The door faintly clicked shut behind him. In the dark, he could barely make out Sonya's outline. His training said that there were others nearby, but he couldn't see them.

"Well then, it's about time you got back," Markus said. "Was starting to think you just ran off."

"Sorry about that. I didn't think I'd be expecting the call to come in. When it did, I needed it taken care of right away. "

"You coulda called."

"Again, sorry but it _was_ time sensitive. As for what I said earlier, I wasn't entirely honest. I didn't bring _one_ person. I brought a lot more."

With that, more than a dozen people erupted from the shadows.

* * *

**A/N:** So that's it for the month. I'm working on an armor cosplay (not Mass Effect) and want to get some headway with it. It'll be taking up most of my free time for the next two weeks or so. I should have something out no later than the end of the first week of August. The other reason for this, is to give myself some time to get the details of the next few chapters right.

In any case, I'd love to hear what you're all thinking about what I've done so far. Your reviews keep me focused, inspired and driven to write more.


	32. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

Family Matters

May 26th, 2187

"I didn't bring _one_ person. I brought a lot more," Sonya said.

Several people, more than a dozen, came out from just beyond the outer most limit of the light being emitted from the house. The sky overhead was completely overcast and provided no help.

As they began moving into visible range, he could start making out a wide variety of figures. Whoever they were, they didn't comprise a single race.

His arm began to arc back as he readied to switch his omni-blade on. Before he could to start swinging back, someone grabbed him from behind.

"Shepard, like you could play dead with me," a woman said playfully.

It took his brain a second to connect the voice to the person.

"Ka... sumi?" he asked tentatively.

The renowned thief decloaked and he could – barely – see her arms wrapped around his waist pinning his arms.

"I thought we'd break the house in for real. Not like how you've been doing it. Quiet little dinner parties? Blah!" Sonya said. "We're gonna do this properly. After all, my little bro is getting married."

Sonya held up a bottle of very expensive liquor in each hand.

Markus could now clearly see Kolyat, Samara, Zaeed, Jacob; everyone was there.

* * *

Several glasses of champagne and a few shots of the liquor Sonya brought, everyone was starting to feel a little loose. All save for Markus who was trying as best he could, to keep a respectful distance from everyone else. It was around midnight when he slipped away to the second floor.

He stood on the balcony with half a bottle of '22 on the rail. It sat precariously but he needed his hands free to light his cigar. The view of the lake made it a good place to brood. He let out a depressed sigh soon as it was lit.

_'Come on, Mark. It's not all that complicated. You want a normal life but you can't handle a little surprise like this without thinking your own sister is trying to kill you. So, what are you going to do about it? Options, options.'_

_'Option one – work on it with Tali here, in this house. You'll be putting a strain on both of you if you do and it might end up driving her away. Option two – go back in the field as a battle couple.'_ He paused at that thought. It wasn't a particularly pleasant one. Living on the outskirts of civilization, pretending to be a drug smuggler to get information on someone who poisoned a member of the Alliance, or surveillance on up and coming politicians among the other races.

_'Which leaves, option three.'_ He shuttered at the last one and took a large drink straight from the bottle.

"Chugging my sixty year old scotch like beer? I thought I raised you better then that," Hanna said from behind him.

Markus turned to see her in the doorway with two glasses. Both of them were empty.

"Sorry about that. Had a... a particularly nasty thought. Wanted to wash it out. You know how my brain is."

Her head bobbed to the side. "Well enough. Would you at least let me have some before it's all gone?"

He filled both half way and took one of the glasses.

"What had you in such a rut that you chose to duck out of your own housewarming party, er, late housewarming party?"

"Oh, same old same old. I think I need to do some maintenance on my leg. Feels like I've got a bit of a pronation. Can't be sure though. Good as prosthetics are, it doesn't quite feel the same as it did, you know?"

She took a sip from her glass.

"If you're going to lie to me, at least make it something believable."

Markus downed his glass and refilled it. Looking at it with intent, he explained what had been going through his head for the last several hours.

Through the whole thing, she never said a word. After it was over and he explained what it was he had been thinking about, she set her glass on the rail and looked at him.

"Obviously it's your choice. But take it from someone whose been through a few similar instances in her life: if you have a family, whether it's just someone you're going steady with, a spouse, or the whole kit and caboodle with children, you hold onto them with everything you have and then some. I know I didn't seem to do that much with you and your sisters. I thought that by focusing on my job I'd be making a safer galaxy for you all to grow up in. But those are my demons. The two of you love each other. When she thought you might be dead, it crushed her. I've been on that end a few times.

"I'll admit, when I first heard about you and Tali, I didn't know how to feel about it. But it didn't take long for me to figure it out: you'd do anything to make her feel happy. So let me ask you, in her position, if the person you loved just ran off on their own without saying anything, broke off your engagement, what would happen?"

"That was why I took that huge drink if you recall. I want to stay with her, more than anything." He was about to continue but she cut him off.

"Then get your ass back down there and enjoy your fiancée. Oh, that just doesn't sound right. Um... eh, forget it. You know what I meant."

A shallow but genuine grin crossed Markus' face.

"Thanks, Mom. I plan to. Feel like a little karaoke? Figure everyone should be drunk enough to be up for it."

"I think I'll pass. You haven't seen what happens when your father gets drunk at a party."

The Shepards returned back to the first floor. The kitchen and living room weren't too badly crowded given how many people were in the house.

Within half an hour most of the Normandy family had decided to pack it in. Markus and his sisters stayed up for karaoke as he suggested earlier. Sonya staggered up and selected a song. Like all of the ones she had picked, they were old Earth rock songs. The four had been going for nearly an hour. At this point, they too were winding down. When Markus announced he was going to sleep the others called it a night.

Outside the window, the sun was just coming up as Shepard made his way to the bed. With force, he pushed himself out and closed the blinds before making his way back where he collapsed beside Tali.

* * *

Sonya stood on the balcony on the second floor just outside the room she was staying in. With the sun coming up she raised her hand to shield her eyes from the bright sun.

_'Jeez. I'm gonna feel this tomo... later today. Fuck.'_

Amanda groaned behind her. The two were sharing a bed. Even with the extra beds provided by Isabella's _White Raven_ and the _Normandy_ there still weren't enough beds for the entire crew so a couple of people were doubling up.

"I thought you went to bed already," Sonya said.

"Well I was, but _someone_ decided to let the light in."

"A view like this is worth a little pain. Come on, look at it."

Amanda dragged her feet all the way to the railing where she saw how heavy her sister was leaning on it. "You're too drunk to make it back aren't you?"

"Yeeaaaahhh. A little." A Cheshire cat like grin was plastered over her face. It quickly vanished, replaced by one of serious worry. Her voice changed too; the easy-going party girl tone was replaced by one that Isabella hadn't heard in years. "You know, this probably wasn't the best call. Surprising Markus like that."

"Huh? What do you mean?" It was strange. Sonya wasn't ever all that serious. Not unless there was something that was weighing on her. If she had anything to drink, then you could bet that she wouldn't have a care in the whole galaxy no matter what was going on around her. For her to change her expression so quickly caught Amanda by surprise.

"The party was a huge hit. Everyone loved it, Markie included."

"No, it wasn't. Not like it was supposed to. I..." Sonya sighed. She took the second to recompose herself. "I should have actually thought it through before agreeing to it. If the same thing happened to me, I would have been expecting an ambush. He was too. He's been through a lot. If this had been pulled on you or Izzie then it'd be fine. You're used to a relaxed life. Markus, Mom and I, we're used to people trying to kill us like that. It's why he snuck out for a bit. He needed to take a breather; to reground himself. We owe him a big apology. Tomorrow. Right now, that big matress is calling my name and it is sounding very, _very_ nice.


End file.
